Variable Reality
by Imperion
Summary: Variable Reality: An Evangelion-FLCL crossover. Chapter 8 uploaded. The battle with the Seventh Angel commences and Naota gets his first taste of Eva-style battle.
1. 01

The things you don't care to read: Unless you're desperately bored—or a lawyer of some breed—I suggest you scroll down a few lines. That's right folks, this is the disclaimer—a tribute to our modern day society where only one thing is certain: nothing and no one is above or beyond the reach of a lawsuit. Yes, despite the fact that I—a guy barely staying in college on fee wavers and student loans—could not possibly own the rights to something as cool as NGE or FLCL, I could be sued for not saying that I don't own said rights…theoretically, anyway. So in order to both avoid lopping my financial future off at the balls and to hopefully drive a bastard sub-species of man (hereby referred to as the second party) to extinction by cutting off its food supply, I (hereafter referred to as the first party) shall hereto and forthwith cease and deny any and all claims of ownership to Neon Genesis Evangelion and Fooly Cooly (heretofore referred to as the third party/parties). For those of you who don't speak "lawyer" (also known as "ass"), allow me to translate: I don't own Eva or FLCL, but the wonderful people at Gainax do. I have $1.14 in the bank and my parents are under a bankruptcy, so go waste your time suing someone with a five-figure or greater income. Now, if I haven't completely turned you off or bored you out of your mind (you're still reading this—or skipped it like I warned you to—so I assume I haven't) allow me to present what started off as a random piece of crap and went downhill from there. Variable Reality: A Neon Genesis Evangelion/Fooly Cooly crossover, and one of the many numerous current works of what I like to call Last-Minute Productions.

A beach; deserted save for two souls: one, a timid boy who has had the weight of the world unwillingly thrust upon his shoulders and the other, a girl who once desperately wanted to prove that she and she alone could carry that weight. That weight has just been lifted from both their shoulders, but neither rejoices... no, if anything, they despair further.

_Shinji Ikari, Third Child and Pilot of Evangelion Unit-01: destroyer and savior of humanity all in one breath_.

_Asuka Langley Sohryu, Second Child and Pilot of Evangelion Unit-02: co-savior of humanity and unwitting implement used for the destruction—Instrumentality—of humanity, also known as Third Impact._

Yet there is one other on this beach; one more soul, in turmoil over what has become of her children—her friends.

_Rei Ayanami, First Child and Pilot of Evangelion Unit-00: destroyer, savior, mother of humanity—humanity itself in a way, Lilith._

"Perhaps," she whispers, as she watches the Third attempt to strangulate the Second, "perhaps if things had been different, then this could have been avoided..." She pauses as the Second reaches up to stroke the Third's face, which in turn, causes him to cease trying to end her life. "Perhaps they deserve one more chance at redemption. Perhaps we all do." She smiled as Shinji glanced up to look her way, that uncanny ability of his to seek her out wherever she may be showing itself once more. And then, she was gone. Perhaps if she had stayed, the Second's following words may have changed her mind... then again, when Rei sets her mind to a task, she completes it—no matter what. Gathering the last of her remaining power as Lilith, Mother of Humanity, Rei set about attempting to reverse the events leading up to the final hours of mankind, and to influence the decisions made along the line to alter the course of events... Perhaps if she could find a variable among humanity—something no one could have expected—then things would be different.

_"As long as the Earth, the moon, and the sun...."_

_"Asuka, I need you..."_

_"I'd rather DIE than do it with you!"_

_"This Rei is the Rei..."_

_"ASUKA!"_

_"Where is that idiot Shinji when you need him?!"_

_"You are the one which deserves to live."_

_"If you do not open your mind to her, your Eva..."_

_"AYANAMI!"_

_"Is this my wish? To become one with Ikari?"_

_"Rei, get the Lance."_

_"It's raping my mind..."_

_"Give me back my Shinji!"_

_"Misato, now!"_

_"A.T. Field full power..."_

_"Activate the dummy plug."_

_"Is that what I'm piloting?"_

_"I'm not giving Ikari a free show!"_

_"You want us to catch it?!"_

_"EVAS CHARGE!"_

_"...Show off."_

_"Don't talk to me like that, you damn rookie!"_

_"It was a bit overpriced. Here, keep the change!"_

_"Why don't you just try smiling?"_

_"Don't just stand there, GET IN!"_

_"...I'll do it. I'll pilot it!"_

"The beach... this is that dream again," Shinji Ikari thought to himself, semi-wakeful yet still asleep enough to have the same recurring dream he'd had since his father left him with his uncle. Dream-Shinji sat up, hugging his knees to his chest and staring out at the ocean—an ocean of blood, with a giant face half-submerged in the distance. He couldn't quite make out the face, and it gave him that annoying tip-of-the-tongue feeling one gets when he or she can't quite put a name to a face. He felt as though he should know the name attached to this face very well. And then...

Shinji turned his head to the side, looking up the beach at... _"The girl, she's..."_ Even though he couldn't quite make out her face either, or recall her name, he could tell she was quite beautiful.

Shinji then proceeded to straddle the girl, whose face still remained hidden in fog, and strangle her. Then, the girl's eyes—or eye rather, as the other was bandaged—opened. Blue eyes; startlingly, hauntingly blue. _"The kind of eyes that stay with a person for the rest of their life,"_ he thought, again losing himself to the one part of her face that he could make out clearly. The dream incarnation of himself released the girl and for some unknown reason started to cry. And then, at the point where the dream had always stopped before, it continued. The girl's face came into crystal clarity for all of a second—but that was all it took for the image to burn itself into his mind. He watched as the girl's full, red lips mouthed something—he couldn't tell what exactly but he knew it was bad, very bad.

…

Shinji Ikari awoke with a headache and covered from head to toe in sweat. Judging by the glowing green display of his alarm clock, he was already an hour late for his meeting. "Shit!" he cursed, kicking off the sheet and rushing to the shower of his teacher's small apartment. After a quick shower and change of clothes, Shinji took off at a run for the nearest train station.

Several hours and even more miles later, the boy arrived in Tokyo-3. Oddly enough, he was the only passenger during the whole trip, and the train departed the way it had come as soon as he stepped off onto the platform. "Odd," he murmured. Shrugging his small backpack around on his shoulder and switching his instrument case to the other hand, he started off out of the terminal and down the street, exploring the city that he may soon come to call home.

"We're sorry, but all lines are down due to the special state of emergency. Please seek out the nearest shelter. Have a nice day."

Annoyed, Shinji hung up the pay phone and glanced back down at the photo held in his hand. _"P.S. Check this out! -- "_ "She isn't coming. Great. What a waste of time. At least I won't have to deal with father again..." he sighed, pocketing the photograph, and turning from the phone booth... only to catch a glimpse of something down the road—or someone rather. A girl, dressed in a school uniform and bearing an unusual shade of blue hair, stood in the middle of a four-lane highway. She seemed to smile briefly but a sudden motion to his right caused Shinji to glance away. A flock of birds had just taken flight from a power line. _"Something must have startled them,"_ he thought, turning his gaze back to the girl...that wasn't there any more. "She's gone."

All of this was beginning to feel awfully familiar to Shinji when a sudden explosion from behind jolted him from his reverie. Turning around, he was shocked to find a giant foot in the middle of the street—a foot attached to a very **large** _thing_, which was currently being attacked by small (only by comparison) air-craft. The sound of screeching tires drew his attention to a blue Renault—and the woman from the photograph—parked inches from where he now stood. "Hi! Sorry I'm late. Get in!" she called, opening the door and waving frantically.

"Fuyutsuki."

"Yes sir?"

"Wake up Rei."

"But...can we use her?"

"She's not dead yet."

"...Understood."

_click_

_**SOUND ONLY**_

"Rei?"

"Yes?"

"Our spare is unusable. You will do it again."

"...Yes sir."

Shinji watched his father finish his conversation and turn around to smirk down at his son. _"What is he up to? Something isn't right about this,"_ Shinji thought, only to be distracted as the door on the other side of the EVA cage was kicked in and several nurses wheeled in... _"The girl from the street?"_ The gurney seemed to pause just long enough for Shinji to get a good look at her bandaged face and then resumed its previous speed until it was on the other side of the platform. That's where things started to go wrong.

A blast from above shook the entire facility, knocking over the gurney and spilling its valuable contents onto the floor—perilously close to the edge and certain liquidy death. Shinji gave a startled outcry and ran for the injured girl. Above, several support beams broke loose and fell towards the platform. Again, time paused for a moment. Misato Katsuragi and Ritsuko Akagi watched from the door to the EVA cage as the large I-beams threatened to turn the younger Ikari into a bloody smear on the platform—when the impossible happened and Unit-01 self-activated, ripping its right arm free of its restraints and intercepting the debris.

Shinji never noticed any of this as he made his way across the platform, finally kneeling beside the girl and cradling her in his arms. Her whimpers of pain made him cringe, almost crying out himself. Looking down, he noticed that she was bleeding into his hand. "Rei," he whispered. "Father—you bastard." Glaring up at the booth, he saw that his father was still wearing that ever-present smirk. "I'll do it. I'll pilot it!"

"Eva Unit-01," Misato paused a second. _"Can he really do this? If he doesn't, we're all dead. But I've got this feeling—this feeling that we'll come out of this all right; that he'll somehow pull off one more miracle today. He hasn't been here a full day, and already we've had two of those—what with Unit-01's self-activation and his current sync ratio... Oh, who the hell am I trying to kid? This is no time for doubts Katsuragi!"_ Taking a deep breath, she grinned suddenly. "LAUNCH!" _"It's in his hands now. No use worrying. All we can really do from this point is hope."_

Shinji relaxed slightly, as the g-forces from liftoff had subsided. "Here goes," he mumbled, grabbing the butterfly controls and starting towards the enemy.

Inside Central Dogma, Ritsuko stood hunched over Maya's control screen, reading over her shoulder. Pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose and taking another drag of her cigarette, Ritsuko smirked. "Amazing."

Maya glanced over her shoulder, giving her superior a curious look. "What is sempai?" she asked, quickly turning back to her screen.

Leaning in closer, Ritsuko pointed to a peculiar cluster of values. "This. Look, he hasn't been in the Eva two minutes and already he's piloting like a natural. It's as if he's been piloting the Eva his whole life. And his sync scores are well above what we expected for his first activation."

Maya shook her head. "I don't get it sempai. Forty-three percent isn't that great a score. The Second Child's records indicate she regularly gets between ninety and one hundred percent on activation tests, and she _has_ been doing it her whole life. Wouldn't it have been wiser just to send for her than to throw a kid with no piloting experience whatsoever into the most unreliable Evangelion we have and expect him to pull through for us?"

"You would think so," Ritsuko allowed. "But we weren't expecting an attack so soon—you know that. And besides that, the first AN-411 hasn't been completed yet. There's really no fast and reliable way of transporting an Eva from Germany, except by boat. Besides, she doesn't have any combat experience anyway; in that aspect, all three children are alike. We stand just as much a chance of survival with the Third as we would with the Second or First."

Back on the surface, Shinji was becoming quite familiar with one of the quirks in the Eva's neural control system: pain. The enemy had wasted no time in attacking as it fired off one of the massive energy beams that it had been using earlier to hammer headquarters, then used its advantage while he was distracted to grab the head of his Eva—and was now currently attempting to remodel the Evangelion's forehead. Of course, for Shinji, it felt like someone was trying to pound a new hole into his head the hard way.

Letting out a scream, the young Ikari began to violently shove on the controls, to no avail. His arm _"No, the Eva's!"_—which had been broken sometime earlier—throbbed painfully in time with the pounding in his head. Then, it happened. The energy lance the Angel had been using to pound his Evangelion's face in finally broke through its armor—straight through the eye socket and out the back of its skull. Pain like he'd never felt before in his life poured itself through his very being, and he screamed.

As he stood there leaning against a skyscraper and gushing blood, Shinji felt something press at the back of his mind. Two sensations, both alien and familiar, invaded his being. The first was a protective warmth that wrapped itself around his aching body, offering comfort as only a mother can. The second was similar to the first, only this one seemed to be guiding him, both asking and showing him what to do.

As one, Shinji's eyes snapped open and Evangelion Unit-01's head came up. They'd had enough; it was time to finish this. Bringing its arm up, they focused on it for a moment before the limb regenerated. Glancing up, they felt more than saw shock register in their enemy. _"So much the better."_ Reaching out, they grabbed the thing's arm, snapping it easily. Its eyes glowing a violent shade of pink, the Angel fired off its beam weapon again, striking the Evangelion and continuing on through the city. Flames erupted on all sides of blast, and the Angel thought for a moment that it had won—only to have its hopes dashed as something within the flames moved. There, in the writhing mass of heat and light stood the demonic visage—made even more so by the flames surrounding it—of Evangelion-01. It moved forward out of the flames, its pace slow and deliberate—stalking its prey. Then, with a roar, the Eva launched itself into the air only to come spinning around and slam into the Angel's midsection.

Furious, they pounded the Angel as it had done them earlier. They cared nothing for a quick ending—only that this thing _suffered_ before they wiped it from the face of the Earth. As the two behemoths fell to the ground, the Eva continued its assault on the Angel's core, doubling its fists together and bringing them down repeatedly before grabbing the protective bones surrounding it—like a rib cage—and pulling them apart. Ripping one of the 'ribs' free; it slammed the sharp bone against the core.

Realizing its demise was imminent the Angel gave a great shove, sending both itself and its attacker back upright, before wrapping itself around the great purple beast, shoving its dying core up against the Eva's head. For a second, it paused. At this close proximity, it could tell something was amiss. _"So, the Mother has decided to set her children free of the pain caused by our war. Even so, we must persevere and reunite with the Father. I am sorry Mother, good-bye."_ And Sachiel was no more.

As the blast cleared around him, Shinji Ikari came to his senses. No longer was he the giant beast itself, but simply its pilot. _"What happened,"_ he thought, idly glancing around. Suddenly, the entire right side of the helmet covering the Eva's head came off, brown and slagged from the heat of the explosion. It hit the street below with a resounding crash, but Shinji ignored it. His attention was on the building to his right. It was one of those newer office buildings that reflect everything around them, like giant mirrors. In this mirror, he watched as the flesh of his face—no, his Eva's face—writhed and split, revealing an eyelid, and a giant green eyeball. The four pupils contracted as one. Shinji had one last thought before losing consciousness… _"What the hell is this thing?!"_


	2. 02

Mabase: a city relatively untouched by the ravages of Second Impact—now, a city in ruin. With the Medical Mechanica plant destroyed and the vast majority of the country's—no, the entire world's—funding going to Tokyo-3, there was little to no chance of the city being restored to its former 'glory' any time soon… and that suited Naota just fine. At least it wasn't quite as dull here as it had once been, and the giant iron that was Medical Mechanica didn't spew out steam at regular intervals every day. Sure, there were rumors that MM would be back, and the city would prosper again, but Naota highly doubted it. They couldn't come back yet, not with crazies like Haruko and the Pirate King—Atomsk—running around out there somewhere, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake.

At the thought of the bizarre alien who had used him in the worst way, Naota gave a slight shrug and a smirk. _"Like I care who she chases after,"_ he thought, idly tapping the red bat he carried against his leg as he walked. School had been in session for the past three hours but Naota continued to walk the outer streets of Mabase, bored but not looking for entertainment. Up ahead, the familiar bridge and shallow stream greeted his eyes. He frowned, thinking back to the last time he'd been here, with Mamimi, yet another girl that had used him and then left. In her eyes, he was just a temporary replacement for his brother—Tasuku—her 'Takkun.' It disgusted him to think that, despite the fact that they had used him, he missed them both. _"At least Ninamori is still here."_

Turning around, he saw Canti following a short distance behind. "And why are you still following me? You've been doing it for the past week," Naota pointed out, making his way onto the bridge and looking out across the water and into the city. Canti stood beside and behind him, a silent sentinel. _"Who cares, dumb robot can do whatever he wants,"_ Naota thought, sliding Tasuku's red bat between the straps of his backpack so as to free his hands. To tell the truth, he didn't really mind the robot's silent companionship. Of all the people he knew, since coming into his life the malfunctioning robot had been the most loyal of all of them—besides Ninamori—for some reason… which was pretty sad, in a way.

Unknown to Naota, Canti had been following him for a very specific reason—namely, to stop a third attempt on the boy's life. Since the incident with the giant hand and the end of Medical Mechanica, there had been two previous attempts to eliminate the boy, both thwarted by his silent guardian. Canti didn't know who it was that wanted his young friend and partner dead, but in his own way, he was determined to see that it didn't happen—even if that meant following the boy everywhere he went.

It had been a day since the incident involving the Third Angel—well, a night and part of the morning at least. Sitting at his desk, Gendo Ikari—Supreme Commander of all NERV—regarded the file before him. Something, he knew not what, stood on the outskirts of his perception. His plan was going smoothly so far: the Third Child had been as easily manipulated by his placement of the First as he could have hoped for, the UN had quietly turned control of the greater part of the world over to him—and SEELE of course, all operations were running smoothly, and Rei was almost fully recovered. The only setback he could see was contained within the folder sitting on his desk. Inside, the folder contained several disturbing photographs and accounts of events that took place in a small city some distance away from Tokyo-3. Apparently, something akin to an Angel had been seen in this town called Mabase and was destroyed shortly after its appearance. The fact that it had been terminated without an Evangelion present, and no A.T. fields detected, negated the possibility that this had been an Angel attack.

Among the photos in the folder were those of a boy no older than the Children, an odd woman claming to be an alien, and a robot of some sort. Along with the photos were files containing detailed information about his family, acquaintances, and school mates. Section Two had been unable to recover any information about the redhead or the robot, and this worried them. To Gendo, it was of little concern. No, his main concern were the pictures of the boy—a symbol burned into his forehead in white and his skin glowing the color of blood—taking down the giant that destroyed Medical Mechanica. Seeing these, his orders had been swift and decisive: take out the child and leave no witnesses. There had been two attempts to eliminate the boy, both of which were stopped by the silent robot. Since then, Gendo had put a hold on the order for the boy's execution, and his orders had changed: watch them for now, if he shows any hostile activity, try again.

Now though, things had changed a bit. Glancing at the file again, Gendo thought back on the Third Child's actions and reactions. There had been hate in those eyes—pure, unbridled hatred. It didn't matter that Shinji hated him, so long as the Third Child followed orders… and that was the problem. Gendo didn't think the boy would last much longer in his current state of mind. Knowing his son, it wouldn't be long before he ran again. He would need a new pilot soon. Opening a drawer in his desk, Gendo pulled a second file, this one containing information on NERV-02, its Evangelion, and their pilot. Through some odd quirk of fate the test pilot for Unit-04 was none other than Tasuku Namdaba, older brother to the boy in the first file. When he was first recruited, NERV-02 hadn't cared about his age, so long as he fit over half the profile required to pilot. Gendo knew better though. According to what his Head of Science Division told him, only 14-year-old children could become Children, Pilots of Evangelion. Finally making up his mind, Gendo reached out and picked up his phone, punching in a set of numbers from memory. "This is Ikari. Recruit him," he said, and hung up. He knew the experiments with Unit-04 wouldn't pan out, and when they didn't he would be ready. And besides, whatever unknown power this child possessed may be useful in his plans to reunite with his long-lost wife, Yui Ikari.

…

Ritsuko Akagi hung up the phone with a sigh. This was the perfect addition to her day. Not only was Unit-01 undergoing extensive repairs to its armor, Unit-00 would be undergoing reactivation tests soon—within the next month at least. And now, the Commander wanted her to recruit another child. _"I don't have time for this shit,"_ she thought, getting in the elevator and hitting the button for the command deck a little too hard. Leaning against the wall, she closed her eyes and thought about the problems involved in training a new pilot. Not only would they have to train Shinji, but now they'd be working with some kid who didn't even have an Eva? She knew as well as the Commander that the boy would be given Unit-04 when his brother didn't pan out, but until then what use was he?

The elevator came to a halt, the doors opened, and inspiration struck. _"Why not use him to attempt to stabilize the Third? Sure, the kid's a loose cannon but since Misato so willingly volunteered to house Shinji I'm sure she wouldn't mind keeping an eye on him, and that way there will be someone with a gun around—besides Section Two—in case the kid goes rogue."_ She smiled, pleased with herself for finding a use for the soon-to-be pilot in training. _"And while he's here, we can find out just what happened in Mabase and what this boy has that his brother doesn't."_

Walking into the command center, Ritsuko spotted Maya at her console. Beside her apprentice one of the other bridge crew—Shigeru Aoba—was silently playing air-guitar. Smirking, Ritsuko walked up silently then cleared her throat. The reaction was immediate and hilarious. Maya shot straight up in her chair, as did Aoba—or he tried to. Since he'd had his feet propped against the edge of his console, the net result of his attempt to sit up was his chair tipping over and landing him flat on his ass. "Uh… Ma'am," he said quietly, standing and picking up his seat in embarrassment. Maya attempted to resist giggling but failed miserably.

"Well," said Ritsuko quietly, giving the two a half glare. "It seems that the repairs to Unit-01 aren't keeping you occupied, so I guess I'll have to find something else for you to do."

"Ma'am?" Maya questioned fearfully, unsure what her sempai had in store for the two 'slackers.' She hadn't been slacking off—really—she was just carrying on a conversation while she worked. She was always telling Shigeru to stop playing around in the command center and he'd finally been caught.

"How do the two of you feel about taking a trip?" Ritsuko asked, grinning ear to ear.

…

Misato walked into the command center, giving the place a quick once over before taking up her usual position. Beside her, Ritsuko was grinning inanely. _"I wonder what's made her so happy,"_ Misato thought, giving her friend a suspicious look. "Ok, spill it. Why are you grinning like the cat that just caught the canary?" she asked, turning to regard the doctor.

Ritsuko ignored her for a moment, grinning wider, knowing it would both annoy and creep out the Captain. Finally though, when it seemed Misato would burst, she relented. "Just something that happened a few moments before you got here," she commented vaguely, knowing the ambiguity of the statement would drive the woman beside her further up the proverbial wall.

"Oh, you mean the thing with Shigeru and Maya?" Misato asked, smirking. She knew exactly what Ritsuko had been up to, and thoroughly enjoyed bursting her friend's bubble. "So, where are they going?"

Sighing, Ritsuko gave up her hopes of frustrating Misato for the moment. "They're going to Mabase to pick up a new pilot."

"WHAT?! The Fourth Child has been chosen already?" Misato yelled, outraged. "When did this happen, and why the fuck wasn't I told? What about the Marduke reports?"

"Don't be so loud. He hasn't been chosen as the Fourth, though he could be. He's just being brought in for training. He's pretty much useless without an Eva, but he'll probably be given Unit-03 or 04 if the American branches do as we request and send us a Unit. Until then, he'll train with the Pilots and observe combat from here, with the rest of the crew."

Misato was dumbstruck. "But don't both American Units already have test pilots?" she asked, wondering just what in the hell was going on.

"No," Ritsuko answered, shaking her head to emphasize her point. "Only Unit-04—and its test pilot happens to be the boy's older brother, which rules him out as a true candidate since he's too old. But leave it to the Americans to ignore Pilot selection qualifications. Idiots."

"I can understand the need to secure a spare Pilot until Unit-02 arrives—hell, even with Unit-02 here, we could probably use a spare—but who will look after him? Surely you don't plan to stick him in the same crap hole Section Two tried to put Shinji in yesterday," Misato asked, glaring at Ritsuko.

Grinning, Ritsuko shook her head. "No, we thought it would be better if we put him near you—in the apartment next to yours, actually. Aren't they connected anyway? That way, Shinji will have someone to relate to."

"You mean there will be a stabilizing factor in the Third Child's social life," growled Misato, seeing through to the heart of the matter.

"You could put it that way. Let's face it; Shinji isn't the most reliable of the Children, now is he?" Ritsuko asked, trying not to anger the Captain further, yet still get her point across. As the other woman's shoulders slumped, she saw that she had gotten it across. _"Sorry Misato. Maybe with time Shinji will get better but right now he's just an unpredictable rookie, and he's bound to crack sooner or later with all the pressure we're going to have to put on him… and it'll probably be sooner, rather than later."_

Several hours after standing on the bridge with Canti, Naota found himself actually sitting in class. If he didn't at least make some sort of showing, Ninamori would find him and probably cause him bodily harm. At least the robot hadn't followed him into the school, though Naota almost wished he had. Maybe then class wouldn't be so mind-numbingly dull. Glancing out the window to his left, he spotted the machine man in question, sitting on a swing on the small playground directly below his class. Yawning, he turned his gaze back inside the classroom, starting as he noticed Ninamori staring at him _that way_ again. He could never quite figure out what that stare meant, but he wasn't sure it was good.

Usually, after only a few seconds of this, he would break eye contact with her and stare out the window, but this time he held her gaze. This continued for some time, until the teacher cleared her throat and called Ninamori's name again, more loudly this time. Smirking at the fact that Miss Proper had finally gotten in a bit of trouble, Naota leaned back in his chair and put his arms behind his head. Today wasn't so bad after all.

That line of thought was cut off, however, by the sound of a jet engine. _"That sounds like Canti,"_ he thought, but then realized it was far too loud to be his mechanical housemate. Glancing back out the window—along with half the class—he spotted an odd looking aircraft set down in the parking lot. _"V.T.O.L. Vertical takeoff and landing craft?"_ he thought, rationing out the initials stenciled along its side. The engines suddenly cut off and two people got out of a rear door and walked into the school through the front entrance. Glancing up, he saw that the teacher was trying to get the class's attention back on the subject at hand. _"Oh well, so much for that."_

Five minutes later though, a voice over the intercom interrupted the class again. "Naota Namdaba, please report to the principal's office."

Sitting up, Naota glanced around. _"What'd I do this time?"_ he thought, wondering if they'd finally gotten tired of his skipping class. Standing he slung his bag over his shoulder and picked up his brother's bat. As he passed Ninamori's desk, she echoed his thoughts softly. "What did you do this time, Naota-kun?"

Naota turned back to her and shrugged. "Hell if I know," he replied, equally quiet, then left the room. Strolling through the hallways empty of students, Naota wondered if he should just skip out of this and go home, but a part of him also wondered if being called to the office had anything to do with the strange people from the plane. Making his way down the stairs he tapped his bat on every other one, in time to his foot hitting the next stair. _"Maybe they're here to ask more questions about Haruko. I don't know why they would though, since she's been gone well over a week and a half."_ He was relatively certain that no one else on the face of the planet knew of the name 'Atomsk,' so he doubted they'd want to ask about the demigod who was known throughout this sector as the Pirate King.

Jumping off the last few steps, he turned right at the next corner and walked quietly down the corridor to the main office. Approaching the door, he couldn't hear any conversation from inside—nor could he hear the normal sounds of papers being printed, stacked, and stapled or other sounds one would associate with a school office. _"Odd,_" he thought, opening the door and stepping inside. Looking around, the only people visible were a man and woman, both in uniforms. They stood as he entered, giving the boy cordial smiles and tossing out a greeting.

"Hi," said the woman—_"She's kind of cute."_—giving him a small bow. The man on her left however offered his hand, which Naota shook, giving them both an inquiring look. "You're Naota, right?"

Nodding, he switched the bat back to his right hand, tapping it against his shoe nervously. "Yeah. Who are you people?" he asked, noticing the insignia on their uniforms. _"NERV, oh shit. What could they want?"_

Sensing his nervousness, Shigeru introduced himself and Maya. "I'm Shigeru Aoba, this is Maya Ibuki. Why don't you sit down? I think they said there was a coke machine around here somewhere, do you want something?"

"No, thanks," Naota answered, thinking back to all the times Mamimi, Ninamori, or even Haruko had forced him to try sour, spicy, or any number of odd tasting drinks. It was if they all had this secret agenda to destroy all of his taste buds as quickly as possible, but he couldn't figure out why. Also, it got on his nerves, the way the man—Aoba—had both answered and avoided his question. _"These people want something, and they want it bad."_

Maya cleared her throat, glaring at Shigeru out of the corner of her eye. Of course he would leave the tough part up to her—that was just like him. Deciding to cut to the chase, she gave the boy a smile, sat down, and began to explain just what they were asking of him.

"_Tokyo-3. They want me to leave Mabase."_ He didn't care much about the rest—not like there was much to care about at the moment. They couldn't tell him everything until he agreed to accompany them but he didn't have a problem with that. Grinning, he stood and brought his bat to his shoulder. "When do we leave?"

Standing as well, Maya nodded at Shigeru, indicating he should answer. "Just as soon as you're packed and ready."

The bell signaling the end of school rang and the halls became cluttered with children. Naota wanted to leave Mabase as soon as possible, now even, but there were things that had to be taken care of first. "I'll meet you back here, in the parking lot, in an hour," he said, opening the door.

Shaking her head, Maya followed, Shigeru close behind. "Err… Sorry, but we'll have to go with you. Security, you know?"

Naota nodded. Whatever worked for them was fine with him—as long as they were still willing to get him the hell out of this town an hour from now. The trio made their way out of the school and into the school parking lot. Glancing around, Naota spotted Canti and waved him over. The robot made its way through the crowd, stopping to pick up a dropped notebook and hand it back to a stunned girl, before meeting up with Naota. Seeing the expressions of the NERV agents, Naota shrugged. "Don't mind him," he said, and the foursome hit the streets, making its way through Mabase on foot to the store Naota had called home for the past thirteen years.

Opening the door and walking in, Naota spotted Grandpa kneading bread dough at one of the back counters. "Hi Gramps, is Dad home?" Naota asked, getting a nod from his grandfather. Still grinning, he opened the door into the main part of the house. "Grandpa, maybe you should come in here for this too."

Naota found his dad sitting in the middle of the living room, pounding the keys of his typewriter. He greeted Naota without looking up, his fingers moving in a blur. "Dad, we have visitors. They have some things they want to tell you. I'll be in my room, getting my stuff ready," Naota said, getting his dad's attention, and then walking up the stairs to his small bedroom.

"Ahh, government people. Is this about Haruko-chan?" he asked, moving to the couch and offering the two NERV representatives seats. "Robot-boy, go get us some tea."

…

Emptying his school bag out onto his bed, Naota turned and opened his closet and drawers and began digging out clothes. Several pairs of shorts, boxers, shirts, socks, a few hats found their way into his bag. Satisfied that he had enough clothes to last a week, Naota closed the bag and slung it over his shoulder. Picking up the bat, he was almost out the door when he paused, turning around. Standing there in the corner, next to his bunk beds, was Haruko's blue bass guitar.

The Rickenbacker called to him, drawing him forward. Since Haruko left, he hadn't touched the bass, except to strum it a few times and keep it properly tuned. Setting the bat on his bed, he grabbed the leather strap near the guitar's neck and hefted it into his hands. The bass was heavy, much heavier than the white Flying-V guitar that had sprung from his forehead when the entire city was on the line and he was the only one who could swing the bat, as Haruko had put it. That same guitar that had merged with Canti's during his battle with the alien girl to form Atomsk's weapon of choice—which Haruko probably had slung over her own back at this very moment.

Absently, he played with its strings, smiling as he felt a bit of power—Haruko's power—radiate from it, as if welcoming his touch. _"I can't just leave it,"_ he thought, shouldering it and picking up the bat. He had to bring it with him, his one tangible gift from Haruko. _"Besides, it may come in handy."_

…

The foursome made their way back to the school parking lot—Canti having insisted in his own quiet way that he accompany Naota, and Naota understood. Ninamori was there, waiting for them. Seeing the group, she frowned. Naota paused and then handed over his bag and the bat to Canti, keeping the guitar for himself. "You guys go ahead, I'll catch up." Maya and Shigeru nodded, getting into the V.T.O.L.

Ninamori wasted no time. "So, you were going to leave without saying a word, just like that?" she asked quietly, stepping closer to Naota.

Naota hung his head, suddenly remembering a similar incident, not so long ago. After staying in his home and looking after him for so long, Naota had grown comfortably attached to Haruko, only to have the girl run off without so much as a word—and then do it again, not soon after she returned. _"At least she said goodbye that time,"_ he thought morosely. "I'm sorry Ninamori. I didn't think you'd care."

She glared back at him. "That's your problem Naota, you don't think much at all," she said, accusation still clear in her eyes. "What are you going to do? Just leave us to rot here in this hole in the ground? Are you even going to come back?"

Naota shrugged. "Not if I can help it. They offered to take me away from here, to Tokyo-3 actually." She cringed. Obviously, Ninamori knew something he didn't. "What?"

"Don't you watch the news Naota? There was some kind of attack there yesterday—it's a war zone."

"So?" Naota asked, undaunted. "Mabase has been a war zone up until almost two weeks ago." He stepped closer to Ninamori, lowering his voice. "At least this time the enemies won't be popping out of my head and there will be a whole army there to stop them."

Ninamori sighed, giving up her anger and slipping her arms around his middle. "Idiot," she whispered, shaking her head against his shoulder. "I'll try to visit."

Naota was floored. Since when did Ninamori have feelings for him? She was always bossing him around, telling him what to do, and making him drink things he didn't like. Still, he had to admit that he would miss her a little, and looked forward to her visiting. "Sure, come by any time you want. I'll call you when I get there," he said, giving her a pat on the back and attempting to step away, blushing all the way to his hair.

"Sure," Ninamori laughed, releasing Naota. "You do that."

Flustered, Naota idly played with the guitar strap on his shoulder. "Well," he said, at a loss for words, and finally giving up. "I guess I'll be seeing you."

Smiling, Ninamori stepped back in and gave him a quick peck on the lips, then turned and started walking away from the school. "Be seeing you, Naota-kun," she called back over her shoulder.

Naota pulled the Rickenbacker from his back, stepped into the plane, and the engines started. He played with the strings, idly plucking out a short tune. Beside him, Shigeru eyed the guitar. "Nice bass. You play?"

Shaking his head, Naota smiled. "No, I don't know that much about them, actually. This was a gift. I've been afraid to pick it back up until today."

Shigeru nodded his understanding. "I can teach you, if you'd like. I'm not great, but I know a few things."

Shrugging, Naota consented. "Sure, that'd be great." He didn't mention that Haruko had already taught him all he'd ever really _need_ to know about the bass in his hands. He winced as he hit a sour note. _"Maybe it won't hurt to learn to play it, though,"_ he thought, sitting back and getting settled in for what was sure to be a long flight.


	3. 03

It was well after dark before the plane carrying Shigeru, Maya, and Naota touched down in Tokyo-3. Exhausted, the three staggered out of the V.T.O.L. followed by Canti who appeared unaffected. Stretching, Naota slung the bass back over one shoulder, grabbed his backpack from Canti, and threw it over the other, leaving his mechanical friend to carry his brother's bat. "So, what now?"

Maya pulled her cell phone from a pocket of her uniform and started dialing. "Well, now we figure out where you're going to stay. I don't know if we'll have to go down into the Geofront yet, so I'm calling one of our superiors to find out."

Nodding, Naota walked around the landing pad, stretching his legs. Reaching a guardrail around the edge of the building they were situated atop, he surveyed the city—his new home. "It's…smaller than I thought it would be," he observed quietly, wondering where they kept their military installation hidden. Behind him, Shigeru grinned.

"Yeah, I thought so too, at first. Wait 'till you see the Geofront though," he said, joining the boy at the railing.

Glancing up and to his side, Naota regarded the older man. "What's a Geofront?"

"It's like a cave, sort of. Not only is there a city above ground, there are a large number of structures—along with manmade lakes and forests—underground as well."

Naota nodded, starting slightly as Maya Ibuki leaned against the railing at his other side. "Nice view huh?" she asked, looking out over the city, drawing another nod from the boy. "Well, it seems living arrangements have already been made for you. You'll be staying beside Captain Katsuragi and the Third Child, Shinji Ikari." She looked up to regard her coworker. "I'll take him there, you should check in with headquarters. Dr. Akagi is expecting an informal, initial report from one of us, and you're it."

"Damn," Shigeru grinned, pushing off the railing and heading for the roof elevator. "Oh well. It can't be helped, I suppose. You get off so lucky."

Maya smirked, tugging at Naota's sleeve. "Well, come on. We should get you home and settled in. We should probably pick up a few things first though. I can help you."

Shifting the guitar around on his shoulder, Naota nodded and turned away from the view of lights below. "Sure," he said, following the others. He glanced at Canti as he passed the robot, which seemed to be looking out at the city with amazement equal to Naota's own. "Come on Canti."

…

Naota, Maya, and Canti strolled through one of the few malls in downtown Tokyo-3. Naota looked around, eyeing the stores that were still open, wondering where he would get the money to pay for anything he bought. Maya seemed to read his mind. "We'll use my NERV credit card. None of these have a spending limit on them, but try not to splurge. You'll be paying me back for this out of your next few paychecks," she grinned, tousling his hair through his hat—the floppy, brim-all-around one.

"Sweet. When do I get one of those?" he asked, thinking of the three hundred yen his dad had given him, currently tucked away into his wallet. Not much, but really all Mon-chan could afford at the time.

"Which one—a pay check or a NERV ID card?" Maya asked, steering the trio towards an electronics store. _"A kid has to have some entertainment,"_ she thought, lamely trying to justify her urge to buy new toys.

After purchasing a decent sized television, a pair of game systems, a couple of games for each, and some movies Maya gave the sales clerk the address to the apartment complex Naota would be moving into, along with the room number. "They'll deliver and set up the stuff tomorrow sometime. Now, let's see about getting you some food. What do you like?"

Half an hour later—after stopping to pick up groceries—Maya decided to make it a 'date' and they stopped by a small ramen stand that was still open. After a quick bite to eat—Naota insisted on using what cash he had to pay—they stopped for ice cream cones, then Maya drove him to the apartment complex. They made idle chitchat on the ride up in the elevator, then got out and walked along until they came to Captain Katsuragi's apartment. Maya pushed the bell button and waited.

…

Shinji Ikari lay awake on his futon, listening to his S-DAT player and thinking about the events leading up to this point. He sighed as the song he had been listening to stopped, the S-DAT clicked, and the machine reversed the tape direction to play the opposite side. Despite the fact that he had his headphones in, he had the volume low enough that he heard her approaching footsteps. Rolling over, Shinji pretended to be asleep as Misato knocked on his door.

"Shinji? Can I come in?" she asked, opening the door and standing in the entrance. "Shinji," she paused. _"What do I say to someone who's gone through what he has in such a short period of time? Was it only just yesterday that it started, this morning that Unit-01 and its Pilot were recovered?"_ She took a breath and continued. "You did a brave thing today, a very brave thing. You should be proud… I am. Good night, Shinji." Sighing, she closed his door, tucking her towel more firmly around the top of her breasts to keep it from slipping off.

As she opened the door to her own room, a knock at the front door to the apartment drew her attention. _"I bet that's either Maya or Shigeru with the new kid,"_ she thought, strolling to the door. Glancing down, she realized she was still very lacking in the clothes department but she was too tired to bring herself to care. "Screw it," she mumbled, opening the door. "Hi," she greeted, seeing that it was indeed Maya and the kid—Naota.

"Uh, Captain, Ma'am…" Maya stuttered, taking in her superior's state of undress. She was embarrassed, not because of any feeling of indecency around the woman, but simply because her superior was embarrassing herself in front of one of the Pilots. _"She doesn't dress like that around Shinji, does she?"_

Misato yawned, shaking her head to clear out the cobwebs. "Maya, we aren't at work. Just call me 'Misato,' please. I see you've brought our guest. Pleased to meet you, I'm Misato Katsuragi; just 'Misato' while we're off duty, and 'Captain' only when we are. I hate the military, you see. Those people are too formal and don't know how to cut loose and have a good time. No sense of humor whatsoever either," she said, thrusting her hand out at the boy. He was shorter than Shinji—but not by much—and definitely scrawnier. But judging by the way he carried himself, seemingly unfazed by the weight of the heavy bass guitar hanging from his shoulder, he had a deceptive amount of physical strength. He shook her hand, his grip firm for a kid.

"Naota Namdaba," he replied, grinning. He liked this Misato Katsuragi. "They said there was another here, the Pilot?"

Misato nodded. "Yeah, one of them anyway. Shinji's asleep right now—his last couple days have been pretty rough. You'll meet him in the morning, and probably Rei too. Ritsu told me she'd already arranged everything with the school and you'll be in their class. Have you been issued a phone yet?"

Naota shook his head. "We get cell phones too?" he asked, impressed.

"Well yeah, we need to be able to reach you in case of an Angel attack and to inform you of tests and stuff. They don't have any limits on them or anything, and it all gets billed to NERV as company expenses. Heh, one of the benefits of working for the world's single most important agency of the day," she laughed, making a mental note to have two phones delivered tomorrow.

"Well, I should get going," said Maya, handing Naota the key to his apartment that she'd picked up at the front desk of the complex. "Sempai said you all have tests tomorrow afternoon, after school. Rei can lead the two of you into headquarters. Goodnight Cap—Misato, Naota."

Naota waved goodbye to the Lieutenant and thanked her for taking him around to shop for things for his apartment, then turned his attention back to Misato. "So, I guess I'll see you both tomorrow," he said, waving his own goodbye and opening the door to his apartment. He stepped into the apartment, followed closely by Canti, who closed and locked the door behind the two. Looking around, he found that the place already had a refrigerator, dish washer, and a washer/dryer combo setup. "This is nice. It's larger than I thought it'd be," he commented, surveying the rooms. "This one is mine," he said, pointing to the largest. Canti nodded, handing Naota his bat. "Thanks. Well, I'm going to bed. There isn't much you can do tonight, since we don't have a tv yet. Oh well. 'Night."

Canti waved as Naota closed the door to his bedroom, and then began putting away the groceries they'd purchased earlier that evening. Like his young roommate, he was enjoying the change of scenery. Mon-chan and grandpa would be fine back in Mabase; Canti was needed here, to look after Naota. The odd robot quietly set about arranging the kitchen into some semblance of order, idly wondering how long it would be before he could go out and shop for other things their new home would need.

Misato woke early the next morning, which was abnormal for her. Usually, unless she had to be on duty early in the morning, she tended to laze around in bed until well after noon. Stretching with a yawn, she got out of bed and dressed quickly. She could hear the shower running and knew it had to be Shinji getting cleaned up before school. _"He must still smell like LCL,"_ she thought, wrinkling her nose at the memory of the smell that had covered the boy the previous day.

She stepped out of her room, making a bee-line for the beer-fridge. She grinned as she popped the top on a Yebitsu, downing half of it in one go. "Ahh, that's the way to start a morning," she sighed, walking to the door to her apartment. Seconds later, she stood in front of Naota's door. She was so startled by what answered the door that she almost dropped her beer and pulled her sidearm out. A large (slightly taller than herself), blue robot dressed in blue jean pants, wearing an apron and a chef's hat waved her into the apartment, where she could smell things cooking. "Uh… hi? I'm looking for Naota Namdaba, he does live here, right?" she asked, confused. She didn't remember this guy from her brief meeting with the boy last night.

The robot nodded and then pointed at itself. The screen that was its face lit up with the kanji for 'Canti,' then switched through several other languages including English, two versions of what she suspected was Chinese, and Russian. "Right, uh, you're Canti huh?" she asked, getting a nod. She took the seat it—he—indicated at the kitchen counter and was a little stunned when he offered her a plate of toast and eggs. "Uh, thanks."

Canti nodded, checked the items on the stove, and then stepped out of the kitchen to knock on Naota's door. The door opened a moment later and Naota stepped out, clothed only in boxers. "Mornin'," he mumbled, walking into the bathroom. He came back out a few minutes later to find Canti and the woman—Misato Katsuragi, he remembered her name was—standing and sitting at his kitchen counter, respectively. "Hi," he said, taking a seat and eating what Canti put in front of him, mumbling quick thanks.

"Good morning Naota, did you sleep well?" Misato asked, quickly getting over the fact that the boy had such an odd roommate—hell, one of hers was a warm-water penguin. The boy nodded through a mouthful of food, idly scratching an errant itch at his side. "You should probably take a shower, but you don't have any towels or anything yet, do you?"

Naota shook his head, swallowing and reaching for a glass of orange juice. "No. Damn, I knew there was something we forgot last night," he cursed, taking a long draught of juice.

"You can use my place," Misato suggested, polishing off the rest of her beer and standing. "I'll go see if Shinji's done yet," she said, turning for the door. She was stopped however by a hand on her shoulder. Turning back around, she smiled as Canti handed her another plate of food and pointed in the general direction of her apartment. "Right, thanks. I'm sure he'll appreciate this."

…

Shinji finished dressing and stepped out of his room, pocketing his S-DAT, and hearing the front door open and close. Walking into the kitchen, he found Misato setting a plate down on the counter. "Good morning Shinji. This is yours," she said, pointing at the plate.

He couldn't smell that anything had been cooked in the apartment and wondered briefly where she'd gotten it. "Good morning Misato," he replied before digging into the food. He had to admit, it was good.

Misato went into the bathroom, checked that there were clean towels, and nodded in satisfaction when she found what she was looking for. "Hey Shinji, you don't mind if Naota borrows the shower for a while, do you?"

Shinji looked up from his food. "I thought you said the penguin's name was Pen-Pen," he stated, confused.

"Uh huh," Misato answered, coming back into the kitchen. "You haven't met Naota yet. He just transferred in last night."

Shinji nodded and resumed eating. "When's he coming over?" he asked around a mouthful of food, then almost jumped when someone knocked at the front door.

Misato stood and answered the door. After a quick introduction, Naota jumped into the shower and Shinji finished off his breakfast, rinsed off the plate and left it in the sink.

…

Naota ran his fingers through his hair, slicking it back against his scalp and enjoying a hot shower for a change. There was never enough hot water when Haruko had lived them with. That seemed like months ago but he knew it had been less than two weeks. Sighing, he reached for the shampoo. _"It isn't so bad here. The people have all been nice so far, even the Ikari guy. He didn't say much, though,"_ Naota thought, rinsing out his hair and grabbing a washcloth and the bar of soap. "Glad she keeps something besides that froofy girly soap," he mumbled, going about the essentials of cleansing himself.

Several minutes later, he stepped out of the shower a new man—well, relatively speaking of course. Dressing in the clothes he'd brought over from his own apartment—shorts, a tee, his long-sleeved blue shirt, and his baseball cap—he put his wet towel in the hamper and exited the washroom… nearly stepping on something along the way. Looking down, he found a medium-sized fowl looking back up at him, a towel draped over what passed as its shoulder. It gave a short 'wark' before stepping between his legs and closing the bathroom door behind itself.

"Uh, Misato?" he asked, stepping back into the kitchen.

"Yes?"

"You know you've got a penguin in your bath, right?"

Misato nodded. "Yeah, he likes to take one whenever he can. He usually takes about three a day, sometimes more if he feels like it."

Naota and Shinji—who had just returned from getting his bag from his room—both regarded her with odd looks. "Right," both said at the same time, then looked from the older woman to each other and grinned. If one had looked closely, they would have noticed the silent conversation that passed between them. _"She's crazy."_

"_You're telling me? I live here now."_

Misato made a sound somewhere between a sneeze and a cough, then looked suspiciously from one boy to the next. Shrugging to herself, she smiled. "Well, you two need to get to school. Come on, I'll drive you."

Naota nodded, following the woman out the door. Had be noticed Shinji's cringe, he might have preferred walking at the chance of getting lost. "Hey wait, I have to get my stuff," he called, stepping back into his apartment. Rushing into his new room, he emptied his bag of clothes and stuck the bat into it, closing it around the handle, and then shouldered his guitar along with the backpack. He tried to justify bringing the guitar as simply wanting to have something to do during lunch period. _"It has nothing to do with her, nothing at all."_

Waving to Canti, who had his back turned, Naota left the apartment—missing the lunch his roommate had set on the counter. He rejoined Misato and Shinji, and the three of them walked the hall and caught the elevator down. "You play?" Shinji asked, eyeing the Rickenbacker.

Naota shook his head, remembering that the guy who had picked him up from Mabase—Shigeru—had offered to teach him. "No, but I'm learning. You?"

"A little. I'm not very good with a guitar. I mostly play cello," Shinji replied, thinking of the instrument tucked away in his closet.

Misato smiled as the two continued talking, comparing favorite songs, bands, foods, and everything else people who have just met talk about. _"Maybe Ritsuko was right, at least partly. All he really needed was a friend his own age. The children at school would have probably ignored him until they found out he was a Pilot—then there would probably be a case of mass hero-worship. Maybe now he won't be alone when the shit hits the fan."_

The drive to school was uneventful—for Misato anyway. For the two boys it was a harrowing, life-or-death exercise in self-control, as both had to fight the urge to scream and/or wet themselves at points during the ride. Finally though, after what seemed like an eternity, the ride ended. Fearful that the madwoman would throw the car back into gear and take off at any second, both leapt from the blue Alpine, slamming the doors and standing a good distance away. "Bye kids! Have a nice first day," Misato called, giggling at their expressions as she took off at speeds any professional race driver would have been proud of.

"Holy fuck, I am never riding with that woman again," Naota exclaimed, wobbling a little as he walked into the school. "The last time I felt like this was when Haruko decided it'd be fun to do wheelies on the highway—on the Vespa's front wheel."

Shinji nodded, silently mirroring his friend's sentiments. "I thought she was bad before… I think I'll walk to school from now on. Who's Haruko?" he asked, walking into the building with Naota.

Pausing, Naota looked back at Shinji. "Remind me to tell you later. Come on, let's find the main office and get our schedules."

After a little walking around, the pair managed to find the room they were looking for. There, they were greeted by a girl with freckles and pigtails. "Hi, I'm Hikari Horaki. Are you the new students?" she asked, bowing politely. After seeing them nod, Hikari smiled. "Great. I have your schedules here. Come on, I'll show you to your first class. We have the same homeroom."

Later that morning, after the people who had been hired to build a door connecting the Katsuragi-Ikari residence with the Namdaba residence had finished their work; the men who brought over Naota's purchases were treated to an odd site. On the Katsuragi-Ikari side, they heard a tv on. Since the door adjoining the two rooms had been left open, they took a quick look around to see if anyone was in, in case the person they were bringing the items for had any preference as to how they should be arranged. From the door, they had a clear view into the living room where—they had, at this point, rubbed their eyes repeatedly to make sure they weren't seeing things—a penguin and a blue robot sat watching a movie. Deciding they were being paid simply to deliver the goods and not ask questions, they promptly forgot they ever saw the warm-water bird and the mechanized man, and finished their job as hastily as possible. Had they stayed, they might have been scared further by the look that passed between the two occupants of the room. Bird glanced at machine and machine looked back. "_Humans_," they seemed to say, and then resumed watching television.

…

Shinji and Naota took seats near the back of the class. It seemed that most of their classmates were not here yet. A row to Naota's right and a seat up a boy sat with a camera and a model tank, making engine noises with his mouth and pushing the tank around his desk. Looking up, they watched as the class rep. walked up to the boy's desk with a stack of papers. "Aida," she called, trying to get his attention.

Aida's tank stopped, its gun turret turning and elevating to point at Hikari. "Target sighted," he said, bringing the camera to bear on the girl. "Fire at will men."

Glaring, Hikari set the papers on his desk. "Will you stop playing and turn that thing off? Here, these are for Suzuhara. Can you give them to him?"

Aida nodded, but didn't put the camera down. "Sure class rep. I planned to go by his house today anyway. He hasn't told me anything, is he sick?" he asked, putting the papers in his desk drawer, along with his notebook and pens.

Hikari sighed, knowing that the papers were as good as forgotten about. "I don't know. He called the school and said he wouldn't be in for the next week, but they wouldn't tell me why. They said it'd be best if he told me himself. I'm worried," she added quietly.

Aida grinned. "Gee Hikari, if it was like that, why didn't you just say so? You and I can go over to his place this evening and see what's going on; then you can tell him off for making you worry like that."

Blushing, Hikari shook her head vehemently. "No, it isn't like that! Really! It's just my duty as class representative to worry about the welfare of other students. What if he was injured in the attack," she muttered, rushing back to her seat as other students started to file in.

"_No, I'm sure if Touji was able to call the school, he's fine,"_ he thought. Shrugging, Aida panned his camera across the room, finally stopping on Naota and Shinji. The camera zoomed in on the blue guitar propped against Naota's desk beside a book bag and a baseball bat. "Nice Rickenbacker. Right handed bass?" he asked, standing and changing seats, so that he was now beside the pair of new students.

Naota nodded, his hand straying absently to the neck of the guitar. "Yeah, but I only know how to play it one way," he said, plucking one of the strings.

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Aida, the camera leaving the bass and zooming out to take in both new faces.

"It means I'm not very good with it," Naota answered, grinning. "It was a gift, but I haven't had much time to get acquainted with it yet. I'm Naota Namdaba, by the way."

One hand extending, Aida grinned. "I'm Kensuke, Kensuke Aida. And you are?" he asked, offering his hand to Shinji as well.

"Shinji Ikari."

"Ikari? Why does that name sound familiar?" Kensuke asked, and then shrugged. He'd probably remember where he had heard it later. Glancing up, he saw that the teacher had finally arrived. Hikari stood up from her desk at the front of the class, ordering them to rise, bow, and be seated. The teacher immediately launched into a lecture on Second Impact, not bothering to introduce the transfer students to the rest of the class. Reaching over into his bag, he retrieved his laptop and plugged it into the school network before turning it on. He motioned for Shinji and Naota to do as the majority of the class—with the exception of Hikari—had, and pull the school laptops from their places under the desks.

Shinji ignored the scroll of conversation in the school chat room, concentrating instead on the girl sitting up and to his left. Rei Ayanami sat with her head to the window, seemingly ignoring the world around her. _"Why does she look so familiar?"_

…

Nothing of any real excitement happened for the rest of the day, save for Canti landing in the middle of the school grounds to deliver Naota's forgotten lunch and taking off again. All in all, it reminded Naota all too well of the school he had been in just the previous day. _"At least it isn't Mabase,"_ he thought, chewing on an M&M from a package he'd gotten out of a vending machine in the cafeteria.

As the last bell of the day rang, the class erupted into a frenzy of movement and Kensuke, Shinji, and Naota made their way outside and into the sun. "Man, that's why I hate homeroom," he sighed, changing discs in his camcorder.

Naota shrugged causing the Rickenbacker to shift around on his back. "It wasn't so bad. Sure, it was boring as hell, but at least it isn't Mabase."

"Hey, isn't that Ayanami?" Shinji asked, pointing to the school entrance.

And indeed, it was Rei. As the threesome approached the bandaged albino, she regarded them with her good eye. "The Captain has ordered me to escort you to headquarters for testing," she stated, turning on her heel and walking off.

Shaking his head at the oddity disappearing slowly down the sidewalk, Shinji turned back to Kensuke. "Sorry, we have to go. It was nice meeting you," he said, then jogged after the blue haired girl.

"What Shinji meant to say was 'It's been cool, see you tomorrow Kensuke,'" said Naota, grinning. With a wave, he turned and followed after the retreating Pilots. "Later."

Shaking his head at the retreating trio's backs, Kensuke leveled his camera at them: Rei—bandaged and trying not to limp, Shinji—quickly catching up and staying just behind but within arm's length of the girl should she fall, and Naota—blue Rickenbacker shining in the sun from its place on his back and his bat bouncing against his leg a couple of paces behind Shinji and on the other side of Rei from him. "Something tells me these three are more than just students. I wonder where they're going, and why those two decided to just transfer here all of a sudden. Maybe…"

Kensuke paused, thinking. No, it couldn't be one of them. Besides the fact that they were all so young Rei was injured, Shinji seemed too meek, and Naota was too much of a delinquent to even be considered for military service. None of them could possibly be the pilot of the robot that—along with whatever else had been out there the other night—had trashed so much of the city. Despite all that, Kensuke resolved himself to dig around and find out whatever he could regarding the three mysterious children disappearing from his viewfinder into the distance.

…

Naota raised his eyebrow, eyeing Dr. Ritsuko Akagi as if she were mad. And at the moment, he was thoroughly convinced that she was indeed certifiably insane. "You want us to _what_?" he asked, glancing between the doctor and Rei. He didn't know if it was more odd that she had made the request or that Rei didn't seem to be questioning it.

"Strip and put on these hospital gowns. Rei has to be thoroughly examined to make sure her injuries are healing properly and you have to be fitted for a plug suit. It's not like I'm asking you to do it in front of each other, there is a privacy screen," she said, grinning at the boy's blush. She didn't get much of a chance to poke fun at anyone other than Misato, and that was only on rare occasions. Having a chance to embarrass the new boy, who was causing a headache and a half for most of the technical staff at the moment, was just too tempting to pass up. "I'm sure Rei wouldn't mind though, she'll need some help getting out of her clothes. I have some files I need to get from my office, so I'll be back in a few minutes," she said, leaving the room and locking the door behind her.

Sighing, Naota tried to avoid the girl's gaze. _"What the hell is with that woman? She's either a big pervert, as much of a tease as Haruko, or both… seeing as Haruko _was_ both."_ He nearly jumped out of his skin at Rei's soft voice.

"Trainee Namdaba, Dr. Akagi requested that you assist me in the removal of my garments to prevent strain on my injuries," she reminded him, wondering why the boy appeared flustered. _"It is not as if she asked us to become one,"_ she thought, frowning imperceptibly for a moment as that thought almost triggered a memory and becoming annoyed as it eluded her. Rei's mind was usually razor sharp and not being able to remember something was somewhat disturbing.

Naota, on the other hand, was not annoyed. No, if anything, he was petrified. Sure, he'd seen Haruko, Mamimi, and Ninamori in various states of undress over the past year but that was largely due to bad timing on his part and a perverted roommate. For some reason though, Rei reminded him a little of Mamimi. She'd not so much as batted an eye when he'd once walked in on her using his bath. It was as if she simply didn't value herself enough to care what _anyone_ saw. "Uh… are you sure it's ok?" he asked lamely.

Hating to repeat herself, Rei simply nodded, stepping closer. Sighing in defeat, Naota helped her remove her blouse, carefully avoiding staring at her bra. "How did you get this on in the first place?" he asked, folding it sloppily and putting it on one of the cots beside them.

Kicking off her shoes, Rei's face twitched as the motion caused her injuries to throb. "Patience, and time—time we do not have at the moment. Dr. Akagi expects us ready by the time she returns."

Nodding, Naota unzipped her skirt and placed it beside the rest of her uniform on the bed, trying not to concentrate on what he was doing. "I see. Why don't you have one of the NERV medical staff come by your apartment in the mornings and assist you? Could you sit down so I can get the socks?" he asked, kneeling.

Rei sat, lifting one of her feet. "They make me uncomfortable," she answered, standing as he finished.

Naota stood as well, grabbing the privacy curtain and pulling it between them. "Do you need help with the gown?" he asked, pulling off his cap and shirt and tossing them to the cot beside him.

"Yes, and my brassier," she replied, pulling aside the curtain enough that his hand could reach the clasps holding it in place across her back.

Naota's hand froze halfway to where it had been reaching for his shoelaces. He hadn't considered that. Really, he had simply expected them to keep their undergarments on under the flimsy hospital gowns. "You're joking?" he asked, straightening up. Seeing her shake her head, he sighed. _"This girl takes that woman way too seriously. She said strip and Rei strips."_ He didn't know why, but he had the feeling that the two women had been through similar routines before. Reaching out, he carefully unhooked the clasps and jerked his hand back. "You're not embarrassed by this at all, are you?" he asked, realization dawning. No, she wasn't playing some odd mind-game with him, as Haruko had before.

"Should I be?" she asked, ignoring the curtain as she finished undressing and pulled the gown on as much as she could, then stepping back to her previous position.

Naota found the strings that would tie around her midsection like a belt and began to knot them together, winding up with a butterfly knot like one would see on shoelaces. "Yeah, most people are. I've only known one person who didn't care, and she was… _odd_ to say the least. Normal people get embarrassed and self-conscious when others see their body. It's just something that society ingrains into our psyches from like day one, while at the same time telling us constantly that our bodies and sex sell better than anything else. You must have lived a very sheltered life. Don't you watch tv?" he asked, knotting the strings around her neck. "And listen to me—that's probably the deepest thing I've ever said in my life. It'd probably surprise the hell out of Ninamori to hear me talk like that. I'm her little delinquent," he muttered, wondering what she liked so much about Naota-the-delinquent. It probably had something to do with the fact that her dad was Mayor of Mabase, and constantly in the people's eye.

"I do not own a television," Rei replied, not surprised at all by his observations. Despite the fact that she was on medical leave, she was still expected to keep up with some of her duties. One of those duties included keeping up to date on the Pilots. It was a testament to the power of the micro S2 engine residing where her uterus should be that she was even able to walk right now—any normal human would still be comatose, on a bed in the bowels of NERV if they were that lucky. The Commander had ordered her to slow her regeneration to just over double that of a normal human's—meaning it would still take close to three weeks to heal completely.

In the few hours before school, she had been called from the infirmary to the Commander's office and given a set of three personnel files to review. Contained within were the psychological profiles of three pilots: Pilot Ikari, Test Pilot Namdaba, and Pilot Trainee Namdaba. No, it didn't surprise her in the least that he'd made the connection as fast as he had. The file on his brother stated that he was amazingly adept at such matters—so much so that several people at his high school had accused him of stalking at one point but the accusations were dismissed without ever seeing the light of day because of the people's respect for him as a "local hero."

Naota nodded at her admission, not very surprised, and watched as she turned around and sat back down on her cot to await Dr. Akagi. Closing the screen the rest of the way, he finished undressing and was in the middle of putting on the flimsy paper gown before speaking again. "You should get out more. Come visit my or Ikari's place some time. I'm sure neither he nor Misato would mind a visit and I've only really got Canti to talk to at my apartment. Actually, I think they were supposed to put a door between the two apartments this morning…"

Contemplating his statement for a few moments, Rei finally made a decision. "Perhaps, in the future I may do so," she said quietly.

Finished tying the strings to his own gown Naota sat on his cot. Suddenly, something Haruko—or maybe it was Ninamori?—had once said came back to him, and he was speaking again before he could even finish the thought. "You should be embarrassed because it's not something people are supposed to just flaunt around each other. It's something you're supposed to share with the people you love, I think." He paused, trying to make sense of his own thoughts, when the door opened and Dr. Akagi stepped in, cutting off him off.

Glancing up from the files in her hands, Ritsuko pulled open the curtain separating the Children. "Did you two have fun while I was out?" she asked, inwardly cackling at Naota's discomfort. She was startled however when Rei answered.

"Trainee Namdaba and I had a most enlightening conversation," the girl stated, standing and signaling that she would be the first to be examined. Turning her head to regard Naota for a moment, she added, "I would like to continue it at a later date." And with that, she strode from the room, followed by Ritsuko—a look of puzzlement crossing her face as she looked between the two kids again.

…

Half an hour later, Naota lay on a flat bed of sorts, his body being slowly drawn into machine behind him. "Uh, is this thing safe?" he asked nervously, glancing at Dr. Akagi's face before the machine enveloped him completely.

"Of course it is, we use it all the time," she answered, tapping at a keyboard near the machine. "Rei was just here, in fact."

Naota, of course, was not relieved by this statement in the least. Taking a deep breath, he held it as a pair of metal rings passed over his body. _"Great, I bet I know what it's going to say too,"_ he thought, remembering the last time he'd had his head x-rayed.

Outside, Ritsuko frowned as the machine completed its scan. What it told her was impossible, so she had it run a quick self-diagnostic and then perform the scan again. This time, when the results came back the same she decided to just give up and keyed in the sequence to bring Naota out from it. "Well Naota, it looks as if you'll have to come back later—it's malfunctioning."

Standing, Naota walked around so he could look over her shoulder. "Let me see," he said, and glanced at the screen when the woman stood aside, perplexed. "That's normal."

Ritsuko was stunned for the second time in an hour. "What do you mean, 'normal'?! It says your brain is missing and you say that's normal? You don't act surprised either."

"Yeah," Naota grinned, playing with the display so that it switched through several sets of results, which all showed pretty much the same thing. "Haruko had Canti x-ray my head almost a year ago, after she smashed her guitar into it and it's been like that ever since."

Ritsuko had been over parts of the file involving the events of the previous year in Mabase and recognized the name. _"Maybe there is some credibility to her claims of being an alien,"_ she thought, then shook her head. No, that was impossible. "If your brain is missing, what are you thinking with?"

"Don't ask me," Naota shrugged. "It hurts my head just thinking about it. Are we done yet?"

Shaking her head, Ritsuko led him out the door and down the hall. "Not quite, we still have to fit you for a plug suit."

Following the blonde a short way down the corridor, Naota turned and glared back the way he had come when he heard a quiet giggle coming from the hall behind him. "Shut up!" he yelled, covering his bare ass with his hands and ducking into the room Ritsuko had opened. "Why can't this day just _end_ already?!"


	4. 04

The following weeks passed quickly for the Children—all of them. For Shinji, every day was basically the same: school in the mornings, sync tests or weapons training in the evening, two hours of self-defense training with Naota and Rei—who would sit in and watch until her injuries healed, and finally homework. Besides school, observing Shinji's training from the command center, and self-defense training Naota wound up spending about two nights of the week with Shigeru learning to play Haruko's bass. He and Rei had the most free time out of the three of them, but as he became familiar with the girl, he began to doubt that she used much of her free time for recreation. At least, that was until she made good upon her statement that day in NERV and showed up on his doorstep one Sunday afternoon.

Hearing the doorbell ring, Naota stood up from his seat on a bean-bag chair beside his couch, waving for Canti to sit back down. "I'll get it," he said, watching as his mechanized roommate and the warm-water penguin went back to playing the game the three of them had been working on for most of the day. Opening the door, he was surprised to see Rei standing there, bandages still visible over her eye and her arm still in a sling. _"At least her ribs aren't broken still,"_ he thought, standing aside and waving her inside.

Rei stepped into the apartment, following Naota back into his living room and taking a seat in the recliner on the opposite side of the couch from Naota's beanbag chair. "Rei, why are you here? Shouldn't you be at home, resting or something?" he asked, sitting down and pushing his controller aside, giving the girl his full attention.

Taking her good eye off of the robot and penguin—who were still hunched over their controllers and deeply involved in their game—she regarded the boy. "I wished to continue our conversation," she stated simply. They both knew which conversation she was referring to.

"Uhh…" Naota's mind seemed to slow to a crawl. "Why didn't you just ask me at school?"

Frowning, Rei thought about this for a moment. Truthfully, she didn't know why she hadn't simply brought up the subject during one of their lunch periods. "You said I should get out more and suggested that a visit to your apartment would be welcomed. Am I inconveniencing you?" she asked, finally coming up with what sounded to her like a plausible excuse for her pervious oversight.

"No, no! Not at all," he said, quickly trying to dissuade any doubts she may have about being welcome. _"It's a miracle that she's here."_ He started to speak again when a loud explosion issued forth from the tv, and Pen-pen warked angrily at Canti, probably accusing the robot of cheating. He grabbed the remote and turned the volume down, much to their dismay. Clearing his throat, he continued. "Anyway…"

The next few minutes were flustering for Naota, as Rei would interrupt him every few seconds to pose a new question. Finally though, he managed to get across some of the basic concepts of relationships and human interaction that he himself barely understood—or so he hoped. "I'm no good at this stuff," he lamented, standing from his seat and going into the kitchen. "Want anything to drink?"

Rei's eyes wandered to the television screen, where digital representations of the oddities sitting on the couch ran around gathering advanced weapons and shot at each other. "No, thank you."

Naota returned with a canned drink and saw the direction of her gaze. "You've never played video games before, huh?"

"No. What would be the point?" she asked, shaking her head.

Shrugging, Naota studied the controller at his side. "I don't know. They're good for blowing off steam, I guess. I suppose they can sharpen your reaction time, reflexes, and hand-eye coordination as well, but no one plays them for that. It's just an escape from this reality."

"Why would one wish to escape reality?"

"Because," Naota paused, thinking back to his own past experiences. "Because sometimes reality can seem so unreal. Things don't always seem right, or fair, or sometimes the lines between what is real and what isn't just…blur and you don't know or care what's real and what isn't any more. In a way, I suppose they help us keep things in perspective, along with giving people a chance to live the lives they can't live normally."

"You're referring to liminality, the blurring of distinction between the real and imagined?"

Naota shrugged. He hadn't known there was a term for it. "I suppose so."

"Humans seek to shape reality to their will and become frustrated when it is made apparent that this is not possible, so seek release in another reality of someone else's design," Rei surmised, frowning because part of that statement seemed contradictory, so she said so.

"Heh. We do a lot of that huh? Contradicting ourselves, I mean," Naota laughed quietly, seeing the idea more clearly. "But some of us don't only use games as a means of seeking it—only kids, usually. Adults have stupider and more perverted methods of coping. Most of them drink themselves into a stupor every now and then, or have a different woman—or man—for every day of the week. Disgusting," he mumbled, thinking of the large refrigerator next door and the woman it belonged to.

They sat in silence after that, interrupted only by the occasional sound from the television or the couch. After several minutes, Rei spoke up again. "I think I would like to try them."

Naota started, looking up. "What? Games?" Seeing her nod of affirmation, he shrugged, glancing at the screen. "I could teach you after your arm heals, if you'd like."

Standing, Rei made her way to the front door. "I would," she said, stepping out and closing it behind her.

"_Suddenly, I don't feel like playing these games any more,"_ he thought, standing and picking up Haruko's guitar from the corner, then taking it out onto the patio outside. There, he sat for the next few hours strumming out whatever tune came to mind. "This place is starting to get depressing. I wish something would happen."

That Monday, Shinji and Naota found their way to the back of the class a few seats away from Kensuke, as usual. Kensuke didn't notice their arrival however, as he was being accosted by the class rep. Hikari had her fingers wrapped around his right ear and was currently pulling very hard. "Kensuke?" she asked, deceptively calm.

"Yeah?"

"Didn't I ask you to deliver those papers to Suzuhara's place?"

Kensuke's eyes darted to the corner of the papers protruding from his desk. He'd completely forgotten about them. "Geeze, I'm sorry class rep! Touji hasn't been home any of the times I've gone over to his place to give them to him, honest," he pleaded, sighing in relief as she released his ear.

"You're Suzuhara's friend, why hasn't he called you or something?" she asked, eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"I don't know," Kensuke started, but paused as he glanced at the door. There, clad in his black tracksuit, stood the boy in question. "Why don't you ask him yourself?"

Hikari turned around, spotting Touji. "Suzuhara, where've you been? You've had us all worried. Did you get involved in the war?" she asked, and then regretted it when he frowned at her.

"No, but my sister did," he said, plopping into his desk.

Kensuke pointed his camera at Touji. "What do you mean?"

Sighing, Touji related his story. "My sister was crushed by some debris during the conflict a couple of weeks ago and she's been in the hospital ever since. Grandpa and Dad are both at work all the time and since mom passed away, we're the only ones she really has. And if I'm not there, she's all alone…" Suddenly, he slammed his fist into the top of his desk, causing everyone in the class to jump. "Man! That robot's pilot is really dumb!"

Hikari frowned. "I'm sorry to hear about your sister, Touji. You shouldn't be too harsh on the pilot though, I'm sure if he hadn't been there, the whole city would have been destroyed."

"I don't care."

Sighing, Hikari gave up. "Kensuke has your homework," she said and then returned to her seat to wait for the teacher.

Touji, on the other hand, had other plans. He turned to Kensuke, regarding his friend for a moment, and then asked the question that had been bugging him for the past week. "You know who it is, don't you?" he asked quietly, hoping not to be overheard. He knew his friend was a military nut—add that to the fact that the boy could do things with a computer that could blow Touji's mind and it was a pretty safe bet that Kensuke knew more than anyone else in their school what was going on.

Kensuke shrugged, panning his camera around and pretending to film the class while making sure no one was paying attention. "Not for sure, but I have my suspicions. I haven't had a chance to ask yet."

"Ask who?"

Kensuke pointed across to Shinji, who was currently taking notes with his school issued laptop. Class had started without him noticing, it seemed. "Ikari and the other kid—Namdaba—transferred in the day after the attack. From what I could dig up on their records I'd say it's most likely Shinji, Ikari that is." Touji nodded, turning to his own computer and Kensuke wondered if maybe he had said the wrong thing. Suddenly, the class erupted in commotion and he knew that despite his attempts not to be heard, he had been. He caught Touji's glare and cringed. _"Shit. This isn't good. And I kind of liked Shinji too,"_ he thought, already planning what he'd say at the boy's funeral, which would probably take place the next day.

…

Yawning, Naota glanced down at his computer as it chimed. _"Incoming message?"_ he read, watching as a small private chat dialogue came onto the screen. 'ARE YOU THE PILOT? Y/N?' _"What the hell?"_ Glancing back, he saw two girls sharing a computer. Both waved and smiled at him. _"Shit. This isn't good. Maybe I should ignore them."_ Two seconds later though, the message came back and he sighed. 'No. What pilot?' he responded, feigning ignorance. _"And who types in all caps anyway?"_

Naota heard a second chime, from directly behind this time, and cringed. _"Great, they're asking Shinji too. I wonder whose bright idea it was to go blabbing this off around class,"_ he thought, glancing back at Kensuke, who was currently observing the guy that had been missing since Naota had arrived. _"Who else?"_

…

'ARE YOU THE PILOT? Y/N?'

Shinji stared at the message a moment before taking a quick look around. Spotting the two girls behind and a few seats to his left, Shinji inwardly groaned. _"What do I say? If I lie, they won't believe me anyway. Naota and I are the only people to move _into_ this city since the incident. I'm surprised it's taken them this long though,"_ he thought before sending his response.

'YES'

The class erupted into a flurry of motion and noise and Shinji found himself surrounded on all sides. People threw questions at him faster than he could answer them, and the class rep yelled for them to return to their seats. She was ignored, and Shinji just knew she'd say this was all his fault later and assign him a month of cleaning duty. His last thought before the bell rang and the crowd finally started to disperse was _"Maybe I should have told them it was Naota…"_

…

Naota watched in silence as Touji once again rammed his fist into the side of Shinji's face. _"This isn't my fight,"_ he tried to tell himself, but he still had to concentrate to keep his hands from straying to either the handle of his bat or the neck of the Rickenbacker. As Touji and Kensuke walked by, Naota glared at the taller boy. "You didn't have to do that. It wasn't his fault, you ass. If Shinji hadn't been there, you would all be dead now," he said quietly, the shoulder carrying Haruko's bass twitching slightly in anticipation.

The jock paused, turning to regard Naota. "Tell that to my sister when she wakes up. **If** she wakes up," Touji responded, equally quiet, then turned and left.

Kensuke, his camera amazingly out of sight, shrugged. "It just slipped out, you know?" Not getting the response he'd half hoped for, Kensuke followed after Touji.

Naota shook his head and turned to find Shinji still flat on his back. Rei was approaching quickly, slightly winded. She stopped above Shinji, waiting until he turned to look at her before speaking. "There's an emergency. I'll report in to headquarters first."

The look she gave Naota before turning to run the direction of the nearest NERV entrance had him worried. Since when was Rei Ayanami ever afraid of anything? Shrugging it off, Naota helped Shinji stand and the two of them hurried off in the direction Rei had gone. "Come on, I know a shortcut."

Despite the weight of the Rickenbacker on his back, Naota took the lead, cutting through side streets and leaping into traffic. "Are you sure you know where you're going?" Shinji called from behind, panting as hard as Naota.

"Yeah! I didn't have much to do our first couple of days here, so I spent a lot of time memorizing maps of the city and NERV, and walking around. Ayanami's the only one who knows it better than I do," Naota tossed back as they came to the entrance he'd hoped for. This entrance was closer to the school, but took a less direct route through the NERV complex than the one Rei had chosen.

…

After splitting up with Shinji at the locker rooms, Naota dashed to the elevators and from there made his way up to the command center. When he burst through the entrance, the place was in chaos. Standing in the middle of it all, Misato—no, Captain Katsuragi—was outwardly calm. This was her element. She turned to regard Naota as he stood beside Rei, who was observing the activities going on around her. "Naota," she snapped, making sure she got his attention. "From now on, both during drills and attacks, you will be expected to report to the command center in your plug suit, preferably before Shinji reaches the Eva cages. Is that understood?"

Her tone would allow for no response other than an affirmative. "Yes ma'am!" he replied hastily, trying to catch his breath.

Misato nodded, turning back to the main display. "Good."

"How far behind was I?" Naota asked, turning to Rei.

"Perhaps two minutes," she replied, not taking her eyes—err, eye—off the activity around her.

Satisfied, Naota nodded. Not bad for their first run. Hopefully though, he wouldn't be forced to stand here and simply observe for very long before his Eva came in. He felt completely useless, just standing there in the command center while Shinji went out to face down another foe. _"At least it didn't come from my forehead,"_ he thought, smirking wryly.

…

Shinji was not having a good day at all. Not only had he been beaten up at school, now he was being thoroughly thrashed by the Angel. His umbilical cable had been severed and he was down to three minutes of power. _"What do I do?"_ he thought wildly, ignoring the yells to grab a rifle from nearby. Suddenly, the Angel lashed out with its whips, wrapping one around Unit-01's ankle and hurling it into the air. He seemed to hang in the air forever before finally crashing back to earth, stunned.

He tried to stand from his position in the hillside, but the Eva wouldn't move—it seemed dazed, punch-drunk even. Something moved in his peripheral vision, and his head turned. There, between two of Unit-01's massive fingers, crouched Kensuke Aida and Touji Suzuhara. Looking back up, he saw the Angel was right on top of them. It tossed out its whips and he did the only thing he could—he caught them, crying out as they burned into his hands. _"Not my hands, the Eva's!"_ he tried to tell himself.

"Shinji! Hold Eva on your current commands and eject the entry plug!"

"Misato!" he yelled, doing as she asked. Seconds later, there were two splashes, and the plug locked back into place. Shinji knew the two boys had gotten into the plug with him. He strained, fighting for control of the giant machine, trying to stay focused. With a grunt and a yell, he managed to throw the Angel off, satisfied as it crashed to the bottom of the hill.

"Shinji, retreat!"

Retreat? It was right down there. If he retreated now, it would destroy the city. No, he had to hit it while it was just getting back up. Glancing at the battery countdown, Shinji engaged the progressive knife as he'd been taught in the weeks of training between his first battle and now. The next thing he knew, the weapon was in his hand and he was charging down the side of the hill—the boys behind him screaming for him to retreat.

At the bottom of the hill, the Angel stood, slamming its tentacle whips into Shinji's midsection. Grunting at the pain, he forced himself forward, thrusting the progressive knife into the glowing red sphere at the Angel's center. Putting both hands on the weapon's hilt, Shinji pushed with everything he had. After what seemed like an eternity, the entry plug's lights dimmed to nothing—but not before the Angel stopped moving.

Breathing hard, Shinji clutched his stomach, sure that he was still impaled. Behind him, the other two were quiet in awe. He didn't care. It was over, he had won. He thumbed the button to eject the entry plug, coughing the LCL out of his lungs as it finally drained from around them. _"I really hate this stuff."_

…

The week following the attack was probably worse for Naota than it was for Shinji. Sure, Shinji had been confined to his apartment unless he was at school or NERV, but he didn't even bother going to school—which meant Naota had to deal with all the questions about the attack.

Naota arrived home late one Friday evening from NERV to find Misato sitting at his kitchen table. "Hi Misato," he greeted the woman, wondering why she was here. She answered his unasked question almost immediately with one of her own.

"Naota, have you seen Shinji?"

He almost missed the hint of panic in her voice. "No, I haven't seen him all day. Didn't he have sync tests today?"

Misato stood, walking to the door separating their apartments. "He did, but he didn't show up."

"So you think he's run away?"

"I checked his room… some of his things are missing—clothes, a bag, and his S-DAT. I think so," she said, sighing heavily. "I guess Ritsu was right."

Naota wanted to ask what she meant by that last part, but she'd already closed the door. "Damn. Can this day get any worse?" As if in answer to his question, there was a knock on his door. Dropping his stuff, he made his way back across the kitchen and opened it.

"Naota. You never called."

"Ninamori?"

Shinji got off a bus and walked down the streets of Tokyo-3, no particular destination in mind. He'd been roaming the city for the past several hours, and had hopefully thrown off Section Two by now. Ignoring the people around him as they ignored him, he made his way through one crowd after another. Finally, the streets began to clear as the sun began to fall. He spotted a bus stop up ahead and idly wondered if he should take another across-town bus before finding somewhere to settle for the night.

Still several meters from the stop, he heard it: the whine of an engine coming from behind… and the apparent chaos it was causing with the traffic. Pulling his ear buds from his ears, he turned around, curious as to what could cause such a ruckus. He cringed as a loud crash issued from the other side of the small rise he stood at the bottom of. Then, to his amazement, a small car came flying over the hill—sideways, as if it had been kicked by something very large. Shinji wondered if he was in the middle of another Angel attack as the car sailed overhead before crashing down into the bus stop behind him. _"I guess I won't be taking the bus."_

Seconds after the car hit where he would have been standing had he kept walking, a scooter came barreling over the top of the hill. Spotting him, it swerved his direction. Shinji didn't move as the driver slammed on its brakes and skidded to a stop in front of him. Cutting the engine, the driver pulled off her helmet and goggles and regarded him with an almost predatory grin. "Need a lift?" she asked, glancing at the bus stop.

The girl was tall—she would probably stand as tall as Misato, were she not seated—and had pinkish-red hair. But what stood out most of all were the guitar case strapped to the back of the Vespa scooter and the large cherry-red guitar currently sitting in the spot between her feet. "Do I know you?"

"Nope!"

Shinji took a closer look at the car sitting where the bus stop had once been. Upon closer inspection, there was a large, guitar-shaped dent in its side. He shook his head. _"No, that isn't possible,"_ he thought, watching as she put the guitar back in its case.

"Hop on, I'll give you a ride," she said, once again flashing him that grin.

Deciding that doing as she suggested would be better than winding up like that car, Shinji stepped closer. "Uh… where do I ride?"

Pointing between her knees, the girl snickered. "Right here."

Nodding, Shinji sat between her legs, clutching his bag to his stomach. "So where are we going?"

"Anywhere the will takes us," she called, kicking her foot down onto the starter and revving the engine. "Oh, you might want to hold on…"

That was the only warning Shinji got as she floored the Vespa and they took off, darting through traffic and around corners at impossible speeds. Poor Shinji had never been so frightened in his life. _"And I thought Misato was a bad driver!"_

…

The two of them spent the rest of the evening, and late into the night riding around Tokyo-3. After the initial panic of riding with yet another maniac, Shinji calmed down and began to enjoy the scenery. Above him, the odd girl's hair blew in the wind—she had given him the helmet but kept the goggles for herself—and every now and then she'd glance down and smile at him. It wasn't the manic, predatory grin she had used earlier, but a genuine smile—as if she were remembering someone every time she looked at him.

Finally, she pulled over in a small park overlooking the city and the two spent the night on a park bench. Oddly enough, Shinji was too tired to care that he was sleeping with a strange, beautiful girl. The girl, for her part, was asleep before she hit the bench completely.

The following morning, Shinji awoke to soft warmth covering his body. Blearily, he tried to roll over and get the sun out of his eyes, but whatever was on top of him would have none of that. "Awe Takkun, I didn't know you cared," a voice purred near his neck, before something wet and warm wriggled its way into his ear. He squeaked, sitting bolt upright and throwing off whatever—whoever—had been holding him down. Looking down, he found the girl from last night glaring back up at him. "What a way to wake someone from a good dream. Ungrateful snot," she mumbled, standing and dusting herself off.

Shinji stood as well, blushing fiercely. "Sorry."

He didn't see her grin, but he could hear it. "Don't sweat it kid. Come on, let's go get breakfast."

"But I don't have any money."

There was that grin again. "Neither do I."

…

An hour later, Shinji was running for his life. Frantically, he jumped onto the Vespa, followed shortly by the pink-haired girl. "That was entertaining!" she yelled, kick starting the Vespa and taking off for the hills.

He couldn't believe they'd just done that. After ordering and eating their fill, the girl told him to go back to the Vespa and wait. He didn't see all of what happened, but he was pretty sure it involved destroying the register with that guitar, since he'd seen her take it off her shoulder before he'd left the building. He had to admit though, she was right. It had been entertaining.

"So, what's your name kid?" she called over the roar of the wind in their ears.

"Shinji Ikari!" he yelled back.

"Ikari huh? Shinji's a nice name, Mr. Ikari."

The rode in silence for a few more minutes before she pulled over and killed the Vespa's motor. "Well Shinji, this is where I let you off," she said, taking her helmet back from him.

Shinji nodded, getting off the Vespa and looking around. Oddly enough, they'd ended up near his apartment complex—he could see it just a few streets down. "Thanks for the lift… uh—hey, I never did get your name," he pointed out.

She smiled, putting the helmet back over her already wild hair. "You're welcome. And no, Shinji, I never did give you my name, did I?"

Shaking his head, Shinji asked "Will you now?"

"Sure Shinji, on one condition."

"What's that?"

"I want you to deliver a message for me."

"A message?" Shinji asked, confused. "To who?"

"Whom. I want you to tell Naota that Haruko—that's me—is back in town, and give him these," she said, handing him her goggles and pulling a spare pair from her pocket. "Think you can do that, Shinji?" Seeing him nod, she grinned. "Great. I have some business to take care of out of town for a few days, but I'll be dropping back by soon. Don't tell him that part though."

Shinji nodded, pocketing the goggles. "Sure, I can do that Haruko. But why don't you just stop by and see him yourself?" he asked, pointing over his shoulder. "He lives over there, right beside me actually."

"I know," she replied, thumping something dangling from a small bracelet on her wrist. "It's complicated though. One more thing?"

"What?"

"Tell him his is still the only head that works," Haruko said, starting the Vespa. "See you soon Shinji. It's been fun."

Shinji watched as she spun the Vespa around, taking off in the direction opposite the apartment complex. _"Strange girl,"_ he thought, starting off for the complex. _"I wonder what she meant…"_

"Naota. You never called."

"Ninamori?" Naota asked, shocked that she was standing on his doorstep. "What are you doing here?"

"You don't sound happy to see me. Are you?"

"Well yeah, but why are you here?" he asked again, wondering just what was going on.

Ninamori shrugged. "It's a long story. Can I come in?"

Nodding, Naota waved her in. That was when he noticed the bags. "Uh, 'Mori, what's with all the bags?" he asked, picking up the last two and bringing them inside. He found her sitting on his couch—Canti and Pen-pen were strangely absent.

"I—I decided it'd be best if I left Mabase too," she answered quietly, not looking up as he approached and sat beside her.

"Why?"

"It's complicated."

"Don't give me that. It's your dad, isn't it?" he guessed.

Ninamori nodded. "Yeah, mostly. Him and that bitch girlfriend of his. I couldn't get any sleep at nights because people kept calling; reporters mainly, but not always."

"I see. Do you want to sleep here tonight?" Naota asked, thinking of the two empty rooms in his new apartment, and the silent roommate who didn't need to sleep, so wouldn't use either of them.

Shaking her head, Ninamori stood, pacing the room. "I shouldn't. I have enough money to get a motel or something for a few days, long enough to find a job. I don't want to run up your rent and expenses any more than they already are. I mean, look at this place!" she exclaimed, turning a full circle to take in the entire room. "It's huge, for a place in a city like this. It must cost a fortune. How do you manage it?"

Naota started to answer, but paused. He hadn't really given it much thought, but now that he did think about it, he never seemed to get any bills or anything addressed to him. Standing, he opened the door separating the apartments and spotted Canti sitting on the couch, watching soaps with Pen-pen and a depressed Misato. "Hey, Canti!" he called, getting his roommate's attention. "Have we gotten any mail lately? Specifically, any bills?" Seeing the robot shake its head, he frowned.

Misato looked up from her place on the couch. "Your apartment and Rei's are free. Everything is taken care of by NERV. I get a large discount for being a NERV employee and having Shinji here, but with a captain's salary, we don't really have the money to splurge on things we don't need."

Nodding, Naota thanked Misato and closed the door, leaving the trio to their daytime television. Turning back to Ninamori, he smiled. "Just stay here. There are two extra rooms I'm not using—and the place is too quiet. Canti doesn't talk much, you know?"

"But what about your bills?"

"Don't have any," Naota said, plopping back down on the couch. "Misato says NERV pays for us to live here, and I make enough money as a Pilot Trainee that we don't have any problem buying food and stuff. Canti does most of the shopping anyway, so that's always taken care of."

Sighing, Ninamori sat back down beside him. "Are you sure it's ok?" she asked again.

"Sure, I don't mind, and I'm sure he won't," Naota shrugged, and then grinned. "There are two rules though."

"Oh?" Ninamori asked, catching the playful tone in his voice. _"Since when is Naota ever this upbeat?"_

"Yeah. Rule number one: no sad faces. No angsting over the small stuff."

Smiling, Ninamori nodded. "Sure, I can do that. And the second rule?"

"There is no second rule."

The two laughed and spent the rest of the evening watching tv. After a while though, Ninamori grinned. "You know Naota, 'angsting' isn't really a word," she pointed out.

"Shut up! New rule, no making fun of Naota."

"Too late Takkun, you said there were no rules other than the first rule and that one doesn't even count."

"Damn! And I hate that name."

"My poor, poor little delinquent," Ninamori said, pouting and throwing her arm around him.

…

The next morning, Naota didn't wake up until noon. Thankfully, it was a Sunday anyway, so he wouldn't have to go to school. Strangely mirroring his fellow pilot's awakening that morning across town, Naota found his bed not quite as empty as it'd been when he'd first got in it last night. His eyes snapped open and he suddenly had the strangest sensation that he was back in Mabase and Haruko had once again snuck into his bed the previous night, but a look around convinced him otherwise.

Glancing to his side he saw Ninamori snoring softly, her head resting against his shoulder. Wondering why he'd woken up in the first place, Naota figured it out when the knock came at his apartment door again. Disentangling himself from the girl and getting out of bed as quickly as he could without waking her—he'd had enough practice in the past to perfect that technique to an art—he threw on a pair of shorts and rushed to the front door. Opening it, he found one of the people he least expected to find on his doorstep at this time on a Sunday. Besides Shinji Ikari, the list entitled 'People Naota Wouldn't Expect to Drop By on a Sunday at Noon' included only Mamimi, grandpa, Mon-chan, and Haruko.

"Hi Shinji. Didn't expect to see you here," he said, waving the other boy in and offering him a seat at his kitchen table. "Misato said you ran."

Shinji nodded, sitting. "I had thought about it."

"Juice? Coke?" Naota offered, taking a can from his refrigerator.

"No thanks. I've had breakfast already," he said, grinning suddenly about something as Naota sat down across from him.

Taking a sip from his can, Naota decided to ask what was on his mind. "What made you decide to come back?" he asked, remembering his own aborted attempt at running away. It seemed like years since that'd happened.

Shinji dug around in his pocket before tossing something across the table to Naota. "I met someone," he said, looking down at the table. "Haruko said to tell you she's back in town."

Naota choked on his drink, ducking reflexively at the mention of the alien's name. Coughing, he sat up when he didn't spot any guitars careening towards his head. He took a deep breath and picked up the goggles. "She's here? In the city? Why didn't she come see me?" he asked, putting his drink down.

"She was—I don't know if she is now. She said she had something she had to do out of town first though, but I wasn't supposed to tell you that. Any idea why?"

"Yeah, she wanted me good and jumpy when she came back. It's not like I wouldn't have been even if you didn't tell me though. Did she say anything else?"

Shinji nodded, remembering her parting comment. "She did, but I don't think I understood it. She said that your head is still the only one that works. What'd she mean?"

Frowning, Naota glanced at the bass Rickenbacker in the corner. "It means he's back. Atomsk is back and she needs me to find him for her."

Shinji was about to ask exactly what he meant when the door to Naota's bedroom opened and a girl stepped out, wearing a tee-shirt and not much else. "Takkun," she yawned, stumbling into the kitchen. "Why'd you leave me?"

Naota knew he was blushing, probably all the way to the damn roots of his hair. "Ninamori," he growled, throwing a glare at the girl. "Why aren't you dressed?"

The girl—Ninamori—looked down at her shirt, shrugging. "I am. All the important parts are covered. Who's your friend?" she asked, noticing Shinji for the first time.

Shinji, Naota noticed, was also blushing. "It's not how it looks," he mumbled to Shinji. "This is Shinji, he lives next door."

"Pleased to meet you Shinji, I'm Ninamori," she said, offering her hand.

"H—hi," Shinji stuttered, shaking the proffered hand.

"So, what are you going to fix me for breakfast?" Ninamori asked of Naota, smirking.

"What do you mean? I'm not fixing your breakfast. There are leftovers in the 'fridge," he grumbled.

Pouting, Ninamori opened the refrigerator. "Awe—but aren't lovers supposed to do that kind of thing for each other?"

Naota and Shinji both froze, looking from the girl to each other. Finally, Naota spoke up. "I swear she's lying."

Shaking his head, Shinji stood and walked to the room separating their apartments. "Maybe I'd better just go tell Misato I'm home and leave the two of you alone," he said quietly, ducking through the door without looking back.

"Really! She's lying!"

Taking Shinji's spot at the table, Ninamori grinned. "You shouldn't be ashamed Naota; it's a perfectly normal thing for two people to want to be together…"

Naota glared. "Shut. Up."

"So, what are we doing today?"


	5. 05

Shinji found Misato at her kitchen table, beer in hand and three more close by. "Misato," he started, and suddenly found himself at a loss for words.

"Shinji," Misato answered back, also at a loss. She recovered more quickly however, or at least tried to. "Long time no see."

"Yeah," Shinji offered lamely, sitting down in front of her.

"Feel any better after wandering around for a day and a half?"

Thinking back to how he'd felt twenty-four hours ago, Shinji would have to say yes, so he did. "Yeah, a little. I just needed some time to think about things, I guess. I didn't get it though," he mumbled, remembering the first few hours of insanity that Haruko called 'driving'.

"Why not?"

"I met someone. I guess she managed to get my mind off of everything long enough for me to figure out that this is really where I want to be."

Misato grinned, playing with her beer can. "Oh, she did huh? And how might she have done that?"

Blushing, Shinji averted his gaze. "It wasn't like that Misato," he said quietly, remembering his… odd wake-up call just a few hours previous. _"I wonder if I should tell Naota. But what about that Ninamori girl?"_

"I know it isn't, Shinji," said Misato, cutting off his train of thought. "I just like teasing you."

"Oh."

Misato sighed, taking a sip from her can. "The Eva is on standby. Will you pilot it, or won't you?"

"You're not going to scold me for running away?" he asked, astonished. Seeing her shake her head, he asked, "What are you going to do with it if I say I won't pilot?"

"I suppose Rei will do it, or Naota," she added quickly, not entirely sure about that last part. Ever since his medical examination a few weeks previous, his synchronization tests with Unit-01 had been canceled—quietly, of course. She made a mental note to ask him about it later.

"Isn't it a bit unrealistic to force everything onto them?"

"Maybe so, but they can handle it. We don't need or want you if you don't want this Shinji. NERV doesn't need a Pilot with an attitude like that. If you go into battle like that, you'll just get yourself and everyone else killed. Do you understand?" she asked, setting her empty beer aside but not reaching for another.

"I understand. It wasn't something I wanted to do, and it's not like it comes naturally or anything—but I think now, I kind of do want to do it."

"Why?"

Shinji shrugged. "Honestly, I don't know. Can't I figure that out along the way, so long as I'm willing to do it?"

Standing, Misato nodded. "Yeah, I suppose that'll do. Now, one more thing…" she said, walking around the table to him.

"What?" Shinji asked, standing as well. He didn't expect the slap she gave him which turned his head most of the way around, and he really didn't expect her to throw her arms around him three seconds later.

"Don't ever do that again Shinji!" she cried, tightening her hold on the boy. "I—I said I'd take care of you, and I meant it. That doesn't just mean I'm giving you a place to stay. If you've got a problem, you can talk to me, you know?"

"Ok Misato," Shinji replied softly, returning her hug, though not as enthusiastically. He really didn't know what else to say.

"Welcome home."

Naota **_loathed_** Monday mornings. _"I wish I were in America. They have it so easy,"_ he thought, stepping out of his shower. _"Canti should have breakfast finished by now. Man, I'm hungry."_ He grinned, anticipating breakfast. Reaching out to take his towel from its place on the rack, Naota was startled by the sound of the bathroom door opening and a soft gasp. Quickly covering himself with his towel, he glared at Ninamori who stood frozen in place, her face beet red. "Geeze Ninamori, learn how to knock. And you said I was a hentai any time this happened at my dad's place in Mabase." He paused, cutting his tirade off before it got a decent start. "Um… why are you still staring at me?"

"Ah, um… It's my turn to use the bathroom now!" she yelled, stepping in and quickly shoving Naota out, locking the door behind her.

Shaking his head, Naota went into his room to dress. "That girl is weird," he muttered under his breath, slipping quickly into his shorts and shirt. Finished dressing, Naota reached for the handle to open the door, but paused. Turning his head, he caught sight of the goggles—Haruko's favorite goggles, as he remembered them—sitting where he'd left them. "Damn, why do I do this to myself?" he asked to no one in particular, slipping them over his head so they dangled around his neck, and then throwing on a cap backwards.

By the time he made it to the kitchen, Canti had finished breakfast and had two plates on the table. Mumbling a quick thanks, Naota dug in. One of the good things about having the robot as a housemate was that Naota never had to do chores, or cook, or take up any of the other 'responsibilities' that young people his age were so un-fond of. _"This beats a soggy breakfast any day."_

Finished eating, he glanced at the second plate. _"What's taking her so long?"_ he wondered, putting his plate in the sink. Deciding that it'd probably be in his best interests if he made sure she knew that her food getting cold was her own fault for taking so long in the shower, Naota placed his ear to the bathroom door then knocked. _"At least I know how to knock."_

…

So what exactly _was_ taking Ninamori so long, you ask? Had she slipped and broken her neck on the side of the tub? No. Did she drown standing up? No. Had she fallen asleep? Again, no. In fact, she was quite alive and very much awake. Ninamori was getting her fooly cooly on—err… masturbating. Hands in places best left to the imagination as describing them implicitly would get the author in trouble, regardless of how entertaining it was to write this part, Ninamori stood leaning against the shower wall letting the hot spray from the shower work its magic. "Oooh yes, this is good," she moaned lightly.

A knock from the direction of the door caused her hands to slow, but not stop altogether. "Ninamori, hurry up! Your breakfast is getting cold. Don't blame me when it tastes like crap."

"Takkun," she whimpered, resuming her frantic pace of earlier. Breakfast? Who the hell needed breakfast? Certainly not Ninamori. No, what she really needed at the moment was for Naota to call her name again—just once more, _please_.

"'Mori, you didn't fall in did you?" Naota called again, granting her wish.

"_That'll work,"_ she decided, her body shuddering in release. Idly wondering what Naota would do if he caught her like this, Ninamori debated not answering and luring him into the bathroom with her. "I'm fine Naota, almost done," she called finally, easing herself off the shower wall and rinsing off in the spray from the shower.

"Ok. I'm going over to Ikari's. Come and get us when you're done eating."

"_Oh, I'll come and get you all right, Naota. One of these days…"_

…

Shinji, Naota, and now Ninamori made their way down the sidewalks to the school in a comfortable silence. Passing through the school gates, Naota spoke up. "Hey Shinji, I'm going to take Ninamori to the office and get her schedule. See you in class?"

"Sure," Shinji nodded, waving to the pair as they turned off to go in through the office entrance.

"Hey! Ikari!" someone called and Shinji turned to see who it was. Kensuke strolled up, Touji not far behind. "Glad we found you. Touji has something he needs to tell you, don't you Touji?"

Grumbling at his best friend under his breath, Touji stepped forward. "Ikari—look, I'm sorry about hitting you twice. Please, ya gotta hit me back."

Shinji didn't need to look to know that most of the activity across the school grounds had stopped and they had the attention of every person there. "I—I can't do that," he started, about to point out the fact that they were at school and everyone was watching. Someone would get suspended for this.

Shaking his head, Touji continued. "Ya gotta, otherwise I won't be satisfied. Look, don't worry about what anyone here says—we'll back you up."

"He's a pretty embarrassing guy, isn't he?" Kensuke grinned, focusing his camera on the pair. "But if it'll put an end to this dispute, why don't you just go ahead and hit him? And he's right; I don't think any of the other students will say anything, since you're the Pilot and all."

"Hurry up! We don't have much time, do we?"

"He's right Ikari, school's about to start."

Sighing, Shinji relented. "Ok, but only once."

"Right. Come on."

Shinji dropped his school bag, balled up his fist, and sent it flying towards the other boy.

"WAIT!"

Pausing only a hand's-breadth away from Touji's jaw; Shinji pulled his hand away. "What?"

Touji cracked his neck, steadying himself. "Don't hold back."

Shinji nodded, took a half step back, then stepped forward and threw his punch, putting everything he had into it. Touji's head rocked back and he swayed a bit but the track suited jock didn't fall. Wincing, Kensuke grinned. "Ouch. That had to hurt."

Touji laughed, rubbing his jaw. "Only a little. That was pretty good Shinji."

"Uh, thanks?"

The bell rang and Kensuke looked around at the crowds entering the building. "Well, we'd better get going before we're late," he said, picking up his bag.

Shinji nodded, picking up his own bag, and together the three of them joined the mass of students quickly working their way inside.

…

Naota yawned, stretching and shifting the Rickenbacker around on his shoulder. _"I need to get a case for this thing at some point,"_ he thought, watching as Ninamori and Hikari carried on a fast-paced conversation ahead of him. He didn't understand much of it though, as they weren't speaking his language. "Girls," he muttered softly, glancing around at the students filling the hall.

As they drew nearer their class, Naota overheard a group of three girls talking off to their right. "Is it true that Ikari hit Suzuhara out front?" one asked, speaking in what she thought was a low voice so as not to attract the attention of a teacher.

One of the girl's friends spoke up, offering confirmation. "Yeah. Aida and Suzuhara came up to Ikari as he was walking in through the gates and Suzuhara told Ikari to hit him. Aida has it all on disc, I think."

"_Crap!"_ Naota thought, darting ahead of Hikari and Ninamori and rushing into the class.

"What's wrong with him?" Hikari asked, following the boy at a more sedate pace.

Shrugging, Ninamori smiled. "No idea. Takkun always has been a little weird."

"Why do you call him that?"

"Well you see, it all started…."

Seconds after rushing away from Ninamori and Hikari, Naota burst into the class. Looking around, he found the boys in question talking quietly in the back. Shinji looked up from their conversation and waved him over. Taking a quick breath, Naota joined them. "What's going on?" he asked, unslinging the Rickenbacker from his shoulder and leaning it against the desk. "I heard there was a fight."

"Not much of a fight to it," Kensuke explained, fiddling with his camera and then handing it to Naota, who watched the whole thing play out on its small screen.

"Nice right rook."

"Thanks," Shinji said, blushing a bit at the memory of having the entire school watch as this transpired. "I think we've got it settled though, right?" he asked of the two other boys. Both nodded, grinning.

"So Naota, who's the girl?" Kensuke asked, taking his camera back.

Looking over his shoulder, Naota spotted Hikari and Ninamori taking up seats together at the front of the room. "Her? That's just Ninamori."

"She's kinda hot," Touji grinned. "Wonder where she lives."

"Actually, she shares the apartment next door with Naota."

Turning around, Naota glared at Shinji. "Shinji?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut. Up." Naota growled quietly, his hands inching towards the neck of the Rickenbacker. Kensuke and Touji laughed.

"So what's she like?" Kensuke asked, filming the new girl talking to the class rep.

Naota shrugged. "Bossy as hell."

"Sounds kinda like the class rep," Touji commented.

"She was a class rep, that's probably why. Her dad was the Mayor of Mabase."

Shinji shook his head. "I think she's nice."

"You would," Naota frowned, hoping Shinji didn't bring up the incident from Sunday morning.

Kensuke dug around in his bag, finally coming up with a small still image camera. "Hey Touji, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Touji nodded, grinning. "Sure am. Hey Naota, want to make some spare cash?"

Looking between the two boys and the camera, Naota shook his head. "No way. Not if it involves what I think it does. I live with her, remember. There is absolutely no way I'm getting the blame for this one."

"Awe come on, just one or two will do," Kensuke pleaded.

"No."

And so it went for the rest of class—Kensuke and Touji making plans to get their photo racket going again and Shinji and Naota listening and shaking their heads at the absurdity of it. "You know," Shinji commented quietly to the two. "One of these days, someone's going to catch you two and either take your money or beat you up—or both."

Kensuke and Touji traded a look with each other, and then both replied, "Never happen."

Somewhere across the Pacific Ocean, a girl sat in an entry plug rubbing at her nose. It itched terribly, but she couldn't sneeze in the LCL. Finally, the itch subsided and she sighed with relief. "Why do I get the feeling someone's talking about me behind my back?" she asked of no one in particular.

"Hey, big shot! What're you lookin' at so intently?"

"Nothing!" Shinji denied, blushing.

Kensuke grinned, looking the direction Shinji had been staring just seconds ago. "He's ogling Rei!"

"I—I am not!"

"Ah come on! We saw you looking," Kensuke taunted.

"Yeah at Ayanami's boobs—her silky thighs, her calves, her… naughty bits!"

"Uh… it's nothing like that."

"Then just what were you looking at?"

"You can't fool us, Shinji."

Shinji looked away, turning his gaze back up to the pool, and Rei. "I was just wondering why she's always alone."

"Come to think of it, she hasn't had any friends since she started here in the seventh grade," Touji said, leaning back.

Kensuke nodded. "There's just something about her that makes her hard to talk to—like she's in her own world."

"She's probably just got a lousy personality," Touji added.

The coach blew his whistle and the boys stood and began jogging around the track. They were joined shortly by Naota. "You two are both Eva pilots, you should know her better than any of us," Kensuke panted.

"Yeah, he's right."

Shinji slowed to a stop, looking down. "I suppose… but we don't talk."

The other three stopped as well, Naota thankful for once that he'd decided to leave the Rickenbacker on a bench. He really doubted he'd be able to make even a full lap around the track with it—at least not in this heat. Catching his breath, he straightened. "Rei's just… complicated," he said, drawing the attention of Kensuke and Touji.

"You're a Pilot too?" Touji asked. Kensuke had told him that Ikari was the pilot of the giant robot and mentioned that Naota had transferred in the same day as Shinji.

Naota shook his head. "Not quite. I'm still training, and they haven't gotten my Eva in yet but I do a lot of the same stuff Shinji and Rei do."

Kensuke nodded, thinking back to what he'd found on his computer. "That explains all the missing data, then. Your records are almost as doctored as Shinji's, but Rei's—damn," he added, remembering the security on the albino's own files. It had been so complete that he hadn't been able to get anything other than her birthday and current place of residence.

Shrugging, Naota started to jog again with the rest of them, since the coach had been blowing his whistle at them for the past minute. Thinking back to his conversations with the girl, Naota put a voice to his previous thoughts. "It's like she just doesn't know how to live, you know? Like she was raised inside a tank for most of her life or something," he added around quick intakes of breath.

"It's possible," Kensuke said, and quickly amended his statement when Touji groaned. "The first part—not the tank part. Though from what I did manage to find, she lives alone in a pretty bad part of town."

"_What kind of person would choose to live like that?"_ Shinji wondered as they finished their laps in silence.

…

Shinji cringed at the loud bangs issuing from a construction site nearby. _"How can she stand it?"_ he thought, entering Ayanami's apartment complex. He sighed as the noise abated a little, entering the elevator and pushing the button for the fourth floor. "Why did I agree to this?" he asked aloud, thinking back to the previous night.

Misato and Ritsuko had embarrassed him to no end for staring at Rei's picture. It was Ritsuko who suggested he deliver her new security card. Stepping out of the elevator, he remembered why he'd agreed to it. _"She knows Father better than I do, and I'm his son. Maybe she can tell me what he's really like."_ That was his excuse anyway.

Apartment 401 was as dingy on the inside as the hallway outside of it, if not more so. It was littered with bloodied bandages, old bottles, and junk mail scattered haphazardly across the entryway. Looking around, he spotted a pair of cracked yellow glasses sitting on the dresser. _"What are those doing here? They look too big for Rei, and I don't think she wears glasses."_

Shinji picked up the ruined glasses, looking through the cracked lenses and squinting. The prescription was much stronger than he'd thought. A noise from behind caught his attention and he turned to find Rei—clad in a towel around her shoulders and not much else. Her gaze shifted from his face to the glasses in his hand and she took a step forward.

_Rei strode quickly across the room, backing Shinji up against the dresser._

_Shinji's bag caught on the partially open undergarment drawer, throwing off his balance._

_Rei snatched the glasses from his fingers, glaring at the audacity of this boy to come into her home and tamper with one of the few possessions precious enough for her to keep._

_Shinji's already precarious balance slipped and the two of them tumbled to the floor where they landed in a tangle of limbs, Shinji's knee between her legs and pressed against a rather sensitive area of her body, and his hand on her breast._

"_Will you get off?"_

Rei paused in her next step and Shinji blinked, quickly putting the glasses back on her dresser. "Rei," he asked, turning back to the girl. "What just happened?"

"You fell."

Shinji nodded, and then shook his head. "But I didn't fall…" he mumbled, staring at the girl as if she'd grown another head.

Rei's pupils dilated and she gasped, covering herself quickly with the towel. "You were touching me, you pervert!" she shrieked, backing away a step. "What are you doing here?"

Shinji blinked, confused. This wasn't the Rei he'd been talking to only seconds ago. "I didn't mean to, honest! Ritsuko told me to come here, to bring you your card!" he tried to explain, digging around in his pocket until he found her new pass.

Glancing at the card, Rei pointed to the dresser. "Put it over there and leave, now!"

Doing as she said, Shinji set the card down and backed out of her room, going to the door. "I'm sorry, it was an accident, really," he said, trying once more to apologize before he left.

Shinji's hand was on the knob when her voice came again, calmer this time. "Ikari."

He paused, turning to regard the girl once more. "Ayanami?"

"Tell no one of what happened just now. Do not speak of it to anyone and do not bring it up in conversation unless I ask. Do you understand?" Shinji nodded--he understood her wishes, but not the desires behind them. But if it kept her wrath away from him over the incident-that-didn't-happen-but-did, he would agree to nearly anything. "I will explain when I myself understand."

Rei turned around, dressing herself as Shinji left. Dozens of snippets of scenes—memories—involving herself and Shinji Ikari flashed through her mind, one after the other. She didn't understand any of them. Despite the unsettling visions parading through her head, one other thing was bothering her, and it had everything to do with the scene that had triggered them all. Her body was reacting on an instinctual level she hadn't previously been aware of, and she was… blushing. _"I am…both aroused and embarrassed?"_ she wondered, shaking her head slightly and picking up the NERV ID card. Perhaps it was her distraction that caused her to leave the glasses—or perhaps it was one of the clearer visions… one of Commander Ikari ordering the arm of her Eva to be severed, and the phantom pains that accompanied it.

…

As Shinji watched Rei's activation test beside Naota, he suddenly had a bad feeling that today would be perfect for an Angel attack. His bad feeling turned out to be right as the Angel alarm sounded. _"How did I know?"_ he wondered, running through the halls of NERV.

Naota followed Shinji, running into the locker room. Glancing at Shinji, Naota wondered why he had bolted for the door just before the alarm sounded. "Shinji," he said quietly, pressing the switch for his plug suit. "How did you know the alarm was going to go off?"

Shaking his head, Shinji pressed the switch on his own wrist, turning to regard the boy beside him. "I don't know. I just had a feeling, you know?" With that, he turned and sprinted from the room, heading for the cages.

Naota looked around the locker room, his eyes coming to rest on the bass Rickenbacker sitting beside his locker. _"Something's going on. Rei seemed more out of it than usual and Shinji came in with her… Maybe it has something to do with his visit to her apartment."_

Shaking his head, he left the bass where it was and ran for the control center. Whatever was going on could wait until later. He had somewhere to be at the moment, regardless of the fact that he wasn't really needed. "I hate being useless."

…

Inside the planning room of NERV, Naota stood beside Rei as Misato went over her initial idea of using a sniper to take out the Angel. It sounded good to him, except for one minor detail. "Misato?" he asked, getting her attention. "What if Shinji isn't awake in time to pilot Unit-01?"

"Then you or Rei will pilot it," she said, not catching the look Ritsuko gave her. Naota did catch it however. It was a look that clearly said he wouldn't be allowed anywhere _near_ the purple and green Evangelion if she had any say in the matter. He was jerked from his observation by a quiet voice from his right.

"He will pilot," Rei whispered before leaving the room.

Naota frowned. _"Does she know something we don't?"_

…

Shinji's eyes opened at the sound of his door opening. Glancing to his left, he saw Ayanami wheel in a cart with food on it. She tossed a new plug suit onto his bed. "Here, a new one."

Shinji sat up, regarding the plug suit. "Don't show up looking like that," Rei said, glancing at his mostly exposed lower half. With a yelp, Shinji pulled the sheets up to his chin. If he weren't so embarrassed, it might be funny—after all, he'd seen her unclothed earlier.

Shinji opened his mouth to speak, but stopped, Rei's voice sounding in his ears, but her lips weren't moving.

"_You won't die. I'll be protecting you."_

"Rei?" he asked, glancing at the girl.

Rei nodded, turning to leave the room. "I _will_ protect you."

…

Shinji ignored the pain in his hands as he forced open the emergency opening to Rei's entry plug, unknowingly mirroring his father's actions of some time prior. "Rei!" he cried, crawling into the entry plug. She sat there, eyes closed and breathing shallow. "Rei! Are you alright?" He reached out, shaking her shoulder slightly. Suddenly, she took a great shuddering breath, her head shot up, and her eyes snapped open. A second later, Rei's arms shot around him and she pulled him down on top of her. Shinji found himself the recipient of what was probably the first and largest display of emotion Rei had shown in her entire life. "Ayanami?"

"_Don't ever say that… Just don't say that you have nothing else. … And don't say goodbye when you leave on a mission, it's just too sad."_

"_Why are you crying? … I'm sorry, I don't know what I should do or feel at a time like this."_

Leaning back slightly, but not enough to break contact, Shinji grinned. "Why don't you just try smiling?"

…

Naota watched as the Pilots approached the mostly-broken command center—Rei, with her arm over Shinji's shoulder, and Shinji with his supporting her around the waist. Something had happened in the time between Shinji force-ejecting Rei's entry plug and now, but Naota hadn't the slightest idea what it could have been. Other things, too, made themselves apparent. Subtle differences in their stances, for instance. Rei's walk, though half supported by the boy beside her, was more natural than it had ever been… and she was smiling, however small that smile was. Shinji's own step was more of a stride, confident and sure, like that of a seasoned veteran. They looked up as he approached. "What happened?" he asked quietly, making sure no one was within earshot.

Rei looked up at Shinji and nodded. Shinji smiled. "We'll explain it later, when we get home."

"I need a shower," Rei said softly, sniffing her hand. Naota and Shinji laughed, and the girl smiled a little wider.

"_Something is definitely off, but I wonder if it's for the better,"_ Naota thought as Misato joined them, congratulating the pair on a job well done. _"I really hate being useless."_

…

Naota and Shinji followed Rei as the three of them made their way to her apartment later that morning. It was still dark and Naota tapped his bat anxiously against his leg as they made their way through the more run down part of town. "Rei, how can you stand to live here? This place is a dump, and it's noisy. It's four in the morning and those people are still banging away?" he complained as they walked into the entrance to her apartment complex.

"I've never known anything else," she answered as they stepped into the elevator.

Naota tossed a questioning look at Shinji, who shrugged. Looking back at Rei, a plan began to take form in his mind. As the trio stepped out of the elevator, Naota took the lead, walking along the corridor and stopping at 401. "This one's yours?" he asked, noticing the mail sticking out of the slot in the door. Rei nodded, turning the handle and entering. "She doesn't even lock it?" he asked Shinji, who shook his head and pressed the switch for the bell, demonstrating that it too was broken.

They followed her into the apartment and Naota was both amazed and appalled at its condition. _"This isn't going to work,"_ he thought, watching as Rei paused in the middle of the room. As she turned to regard them and opened her mouth to speak, Naota held up a hand. "Rei, where do you keep your clothes?" he asked. Seeing her point to the dresser, he nodded and pulled off his school bag. "Help me get this stuff Shinji."

"What?" Shinji asked, startled. "What are you doing?"

"_We_ are going to help Rei move."

"What if she doesn't want to move?" Shinji pointed out.

Turning back to Rei, Naota asked "Do you want to?"

"I—" Rei paused. She had been about to say 'I will do so if I am ordered,' but changed her mind. "Where would I go?"

"Shinji has a spare room, right?"

Shinji nodded. "Well, yeah, but I don't know if Misato—"

"Screw Misato. I have a spare room. Rei, do you want to come live in my apartment? Ninamori probably won't mind, and Canti doesn't sleep anyway…"

She nodded. "That will be acceptable."

The three of them set about gathering whatever they thought she would want or need and then exited the apartment. As they made their way back across town, a thought occurred to Rei. "I should inform the commander," she said, pulling out her phone and falling a couple of steps behind Shinji and Naota.

The trio arrived at Naota's apartment, tired but not caring to sleep yet. Naota put Rei's things into the third guest room and returned to the kitchen to find the pilots sitting at his table and Canti making what smelled like tea on the stove. Pulling up a chair, he sat down on it backwards, putting his arms up on the back of it and resting his head on them. "So what's the story?"

Rei was about to start when Shinji interrupted her, looking intently at Naota. "I think it'd be best if we heard yours first. You know a lot about us but we barely know anything about you—where you came from, who that Haruko girl was, and what's with the robot."

Shrugging, Naota grinned. "I should've expected that. Ok, fine. It all started one dull day in a small town called Mabase, where a punk kid and his brother's dumb girlfriend were making out beside a dirty stream that passed under the only road out of town, when this crazy alien girl on a yellow Vespa…."

An hour later, Shinji was more confused than when the story had started. "So you're saying that the girl I met—Haruko—hit you with that guitar," he pointed to the blue Rickenbacker standing innocently in the corner, "and opened some kind of portal in your head and machines bent on destruction started pouring from it?"

Naota nodded. "Pretty much, yeah."

"And Haruko's ultimate goal in opening that hole—what was it you called it, an N/O gate?—was to summon some demigod called Atomsk, the Pirate King?"

"Yeah," Naota said quietly, his hand absently running over the top of his head as if searching for a pair of ears that didn't belong. "She used me to get to Atomsk and in the end I was given a choice between the two of them—I chose her and Atomsk fled. Haruko took the guitar I'd created, left me the Rickenbacker, and followed him."

Taking a sip of what remained of his cold tea; Shinji regarded Rei, who had been silent during the whole telling. "Why should we believe you? That's just too outrageous—"

"Because it's the truth, regardless of how outrageous it may sound," came a voice from behind Shinji. Turning around, he found Ninamori standing there, clad once again in only a tee-shirt. This one read 'Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war!'

She sat down beside Naota, grinning. "How long have you been listening?" he asked.

"Long enough. You people are too loud, you know?"

Naota sighed. "Go back to bed 'Mori, you shouldn't be listening to this."

"Why not, I was there when most of it happened, remember? And I want to know why you suddenly decided to tell stories at four in the morning."

Groaning, Naota slapped his palm against his forehead. Deciding it'd be easier to let her have her way, he looked up. "Your turn, I guess."

It was Rei who spoke up next. "You aren't supposed to be here," she said, her gaze fixed on Naota.

"What do you mean?"

"Originally, you were not in Tokyo-3 during the Angel War. Events have been influenced in such a way as to bring you to this place, at this time."

Naota was confused, as was Shinji. Obviously, this was news to him. "Originally?" Shinji asked.

Rei nodded. "Yes. Shinji, of the things you've remembered so far, was Naota ever in any of them?"

"No," Shinji said slowly, concentrating on what had already come back to him. So far, all he could remember were events leading up to the present, and none of those returning memories were very clear yet. "I don't remember much, and it's all pretty much hazy except for a few spots, but the one thing that stands out is that you were never there. Some things don't match up with things that have happened while you were here. Like when I ran away, I think I was supposed to be gone longer…"

"You are the variable," said Rei, her eyes locked with Naota's. "You and the people and events that surround you should be enough to throw off the timetable set in place by Commander Ikari and SEELE. Their Human Instrumentality Project…"

"Wait," Ninamori interrupted, glancing from Rei to Naota. "All of this has already happened? What was the outcome the first time?"

"I do not yet remember."

"Alright, then who the hell decided to alter reality to their liking?"

"I do not know that either."

Naota stood, walking to the refrigerator and getting a cola before sitting back down. "So all you do know is that I'm not supposed to be here but I am because someone wanted things to change," he surmised, then asked, "why me?"

Rei frowned, not quite understanding the logic behind it herself. "I do not really know. I am only able to say that you were something they could not predict—an unknown variable thrown into the equation to change its outcome."

Ninamori's final question before they all went to bed almost guaranteed that none of them would be able to get to sleep any time soon. "What happens if he makes things worse, instead of better? It's possible, isn't it?"

Gendo Ikari was… displeased, but he could not put his finger on why exactly. Germany was readying Evangelion Unit-02 for transportation and had already sent their first test model for the Super Solenoid engine to the Second Branch, it was due for arrival within the next twelve hours—things were running slightly ahead of schedule. Perhaps it was the call he had gotten from Rei only hours after the defeat of the fifth Angel. She had never voiced an opinion about her accommodations before. The fact that her apartment complex had become so run down had never been brought up and Section Two had never said anything on the matter. Even though her transfer to the apartment alongside Captain Katsuragi's own was for the best—at least to keep up appearances—he couldn't quite shake the feeling that something was amiss. Frowning, he leaned back in his chair and regarded his ceiling and the Tree of Life inscribed thereupon. _"Soon Yui."_

…

Almost exactly half way across the planet from NERV-01, a heavy transport plane winged its way across the Atlantic Ocean—their cargo: the first test model of the S2 engine. The flight had gone smoothly so far and they were looking forward to a little leave when they arrived in America. None of their instruments were picking up anything other than commercial airliners, and very few of those. Since Second Impact, air travel had become almost too unsafe to risk traveling any great distance due to erratic weather patterns. Even had radar or infrared been able to pick up the object approaching from their rear, no one would have believed what the instruments told them.

Had the crew been able to look directly to the plane's rear, they might have spotted the streak of red light bearing down on their position at an incredible pace. It skimmed along the ocean's surface, its course straight and true. When it decided it was close enough to attempt an intercept, the streak of light jolted up from the ocean's surface, tripling its speed with seemingly no effort. The crew never felt a thing when the red light hit the underside of their plane, nor would they since it didn't really make an impact so much as pass straight through the metal underbelly and up into the cargo hold, where it struck the box containing their payload and disappeared. Inside the large wooden crate, the Super Solenoid engine glowed a violent red briefly before fading back to its original dull red, almost the color of dried blood.

Seconds after the first streak of light had disappeared into the plane, a second—this one yellow—followed its path, slowing until it came within range of the cargo plane. Suddenly, the yellow light resolved itself into… a Vespa motor scooter, its rider glaring up at the plane. Had someone been close enough—and could have heard her over the wind—they would have heard Haruko screaming curses. "Atomsk! Come out here so I can eat you, fucking bird!" Growling, she gave the plane the finger before jolting off ahead of it, deciding to beat it to its destination. _"Your power _will_ be mine Atomsk, even if I have to hunt you down until the end of time."_

Author's Notes: I think Shinji originally wanders Tokyo-3 for like three to four days... I don't remember at the moment but I knew when I wrote this the first time because I spent like forever and three days pouring over the dvds to get specific details right and skew others to my liking. Looking at the comments left, I realize that yes, I did unconsciously flaw Naota's character--he _is_ too mature, but oh well... I'm running with it anyway probably, for a while at least. Besides, he's around people he doesn't know, so I figure he's entitled to act a bit differently. Once Haruko shows up... oh, damn, obvious spoiler there. Anyway... Who said anything about Naota stabilizing the situation? Temporarily? Yes. In the long run? ...I can't say. I don't even know. 'Mori's out of character too? Well, they didn't give much on her in the series, so I took a few liberties--besides, I'm digging some of it from the two graphic novels I have. Love triangles? I slept through Geometry and passed it with an 'A'. The relationship shituation (no, that isn't a typo) will become more confusing as the story progresses. I haven't even reached the "good" parts of the series yet. On a side note, I've been told I have a tendency to let works like this become near-porno quality in the levels of sex I let the characters have (though it usually winds up as just implied), so if I slip and it starts looking like I've been taking notes from Random or someone, you'll have to forgive me. Then again, these are _kids_ in a **war**... It's pretty much excusable, I think. Why? Because, like I said, they're kids... hormonal, angst driven, walking libidos regardless of what the American society of today would like to believe. I have a brother their age...trust me when I say that this is pretty much par for the course. I was never that young. Secondly, they are fighting a war and stress does things to people--makes them do and condone things they might not, normally. Thirdly: I can always use the excuse that they're NERV personnel and as long as Ritsuko says it doesn't screw with their sync scores and they keep it fairly low-key, Gendo couldn't care less--which might as well be blessing from the gods themselves, as for as anyone in Tokyo-3 is concerned. I've started work on yet **another** fic (though this one is mucho hush-hush and won't be posted under this name), so don't expect any updates past chapter eight of this for a long, long time to come. Right and I've rambled enough--until the next chapter, where I can once again double the word length by adding ass-long author's notes.


	6. 06

Naota yawned, grinning when he heard the whoop from next door. _"Sounds like Misato's up,"_ he thought, looking up at Ninamori, who was also eating breakfast. The two shook their heads. It never ceased to amaze them that this was an every day thing. He heard the shower stop and the door to the bathroom opened. Rei walked into the kitchen, clothed in only a towel. Naota blushed, turning away and Ninamori laughed. It'd been almost two weeks since the girl had moved in, and she still did this every now and then.

Helping herself to a glass of orange juice, Rei regarded the duo at the table. "What?"

"You know Rei, after rooming with three other girls, you would think that Naota would have become desensitized to this sort of thing," Ninamori commented, grinning up at the albino.

Rei took another sip of juice and shrugged. "All of the important parts are concealed."

Naota groaned, palming his forehead. "You've been hanging around Ninamori too long. Man—it's times like this I'm glad Haruko isn't here."

"Why?"

"Because Haruko liked to tease Naota every chance she had and you would be the perfect tool for that. You just act so innocent and unassuming—she would take complete advantage of that."

Rei frowned, putting use dirty glass into the sink. "I… am not a tool," she mumbled, then suddenly glared. "I am no one's doll."

She said this with so much force that for a moment, Naota was worried she might actually hurt Ninamori. "She didn't mean it like that," he offered, trying to placate the girl.

Her expression returning to normal, Rei turned to leave the room. Before doing so, she glanced back at the children sitting at the table. "I was not referring to her comment."

"Then who…?"

Rei shook her head and left, going into her room presumably to get dressed.

"Well, that was a little odd," Ninamori said softly, still looking at the place where Rei had last stood.

Naota stood, gathering his things. He could hear the doorbell next door, which meant Touji and Kensuke had come by to get Ikari. "Maybe she was remembering something someone else said."

Ninamori nodded, standing as well. Seconds later, Rei joined them and the trio exited the apartment. They joined Shinji, Kensuke, and Touji and together they left the complex. It looked to be just one more boring day of school and dull tests.

…

Misato watched the six children walk down the sidewalk, smiling at their carefree attitudes. Touji and Shinji were laughing at some joke Naota had told, Kensuke filming anything that moved, and Ninamori chatting with Rei who was chewing on the corner of a piece of toast. _"It's amazing how relaxed they've all become around each other—even Rei. Shinji's opening up to them more each day. He doesn't sulk around the house any more, and he's even started using the phone I gave him. My little Shinji's growing up,"_ Misato grinned, laughing at herself. "I sound like an old woman."

…

It was during lunch period the next day when the call came. Shinji, Kensuke, Naota, and Touji all sat on the roof of the school, eating lunch. Well, three of them were. Naota had forgotten his lunch, again. He wasn't too surprised then when Canti touched down on the roof with them, jacket and pants flapping in the wind and Naota's box-lunch in hand. Naota stood, handing the Rickenbacker to Touji for a moment when the boy asked to look at it. As Naota made his way over to Canti, Shinji's phone rang. All conversation on the roof stopped and Naota paused, turning to regard Shinji.

Shinji hung up and Naota asked the question on everyone's mind. "Angel?"

Shaking his head, Shinji stood. "No, but we've been ordered to scramble. Section Two is coming by to take us to the air field."

"Us? Me and you? What the hell for if it isn't an Angel?" Naota asked, moving to the railing and glancing down at the unmarked black car pulling up in front of the school.

"I don't know. Hyuga said we'd be flying to Old Tokyo."

Naota nodded, still watching the agents below. Grinning, he turned his gaze to the robot beside him, patiently holding his lunch. "You know… we could get there a lot faster if we flew."

"You don't mean…" Shinji followed Naota's gaze to Canti. "Wouldn't that be against regulations or something, since they sent Section Two to get us?"

"Naw," Naota said, taking the lunch from Canti and sitting it on the ground. "As long as we get there faster than they do anyway."

Ginning himself, Shinji nodded. "Sounds like fun."

"Hey Touji," Naota called, climbing onto Canti's back.

"Yeah?"

"Get my guitar to Ninamori, would you?"

"Sure thing."

Kensuke panned the camera over to where Shinji was also climbing onto Canti's back. It was a tight fit for the two of them to find proper footing and grip, but they managed. "Man, you guys have all the fun," he lamented as Canti took a flying leap off the side of the building. Kensuke caught the whole thing on camera: Canti's flying leap and dive down almost to ground level and the Section Two agents ducking and yelling in fury as the boys and the robot swooped overhead. He and Touji laughed as the agents jumped into their black sedan and attempted to follow, but the robot was already out of sight.

"You're posting that online tonight, right?" Touji asked.

"Oh yeah."

…

Naota frowned as Misato outlined her plan. The plan itself was simple and would probably work, but too much could go wrong. One slip on Misato's part and they'd be short one Operations Director. He stood, looking down at Misato—who was clad in a radiation suit. "That's a great plan Misato and I'm sure it'll work, but there's one problem with it."

"Oh?" Misato asked, looking up at the boy. She knew what he was about to say and agreed with him, but there was no other way.

"Yeah. We need you too much to just let you jump off an Eva onto a stampeding robot."

Misato sighed. Yeah, exactly what she thought he'd say. "What do you suggest we do then? You can't go, we've only got one suit and it's adult sized."

Naota grinned, which for some reason disturbed Misato. "We'll send Canti. He's a robot—he can access that thing's computer and figure out what's wrong faster than a human ever could."

Misato turned to regard the robot in question. It stood in the rear of the plane, looking out a window at the Evangelion below. It had been onboard when they picked her up—Makato hadn't been able to think up a suitable excuse to keep Naota from bringing him. As it turned out, he may just come in handy. "But are you sure he can do it? Won't the radiation interfere with his circuits or something—and I'm not an expert on this, but won't he have to go through decontamination before he can come back in contact with people?"

"Nope," Naota said, walking past Misato and Shinji to where Canti now stood. "Canti's a Medical Mechanica robot—it'll take a lot more than radiation to screw him up."

Misato sighed, giving up. She had to admit, the boy was right. "Ok. Shinji, get to Unit-01. Hyuga!" she called, getting the tech's attention. "Bring us into drop range."

"Yes ma'am!"

"What are you doing?" Misato asked, watching as Naota picked up a radio headset and plugged it into a port on his plug suit.

"What's it look like? I'm going with him," Naota grinned as Unit-01's entry plug closed and cycled down into place, a hatch closing instantly behind it to preserve cabin pressure.

"Wait, I thought the plan was to send the robot. You can't go! You don't have a suit!"

Laughing, Naota tapped Canti's shoulder. "Sure I do. Canti! Open up!"

Misato watched in horror as the innocuous blue robot leaned back and a giant, gaping black maw opened up beside Naota. "…What the hell?!"

Naota put one foot into the maw, turning back to Misato. "See you Misato!" he yelled, stepping into it completely.

Struggling to hold down her lunch, Misato watched as the jaws snapped shut around the boy Shinji had come to regard as a friend. Canti shuddered slightly, doubling over, and then it stood back up—quickly shifting colors from dark blue to cherry red. The robot waved once at Misato, then opened the hatch above Unit-01 and jumped down onto the Eva's back.

"What are you waiting for? Let's go!" she heard Naota's voice yelling from the plane's radio pickup.

Deciding she'd have to sort all this crap out later, Misato shook her head and steeled her resolve. "Unit-01; LAUNCH!"

…

Naota grinned. Despite the pain in his head, tapping into this power again felt good. He—they—watched as the Eva detached from the AN-411 and began to freefall. Deciding it'd probably be best if they weren't on the Evangelion when it hit the ground they launched themselves into the air and angled their descent for the rogue nuclear robot.

Shinji slammed into the earth and immediately began to sprint for Jet Alone. As he drew within range, he signaled to the AN-411 above. "Now what Misato?"

"Get in front of it and hold it in place while Naota—Canti—WHOEVER! goes in through the emergency hatch."

Shinji nodded, sprinting ahead of the rampaging giant, then turning and slamming his Eva's hands against its chest while planting his feet, stopping it. Looking up, he watched as this new, red Canti crashed against the machine's hull and stood, tearing open the access panel before diving in. _"I guess he was telling the truth,"_ he thought, thinking back to Naota's own tale of a week or so ago.

Inside, they came to another door—this one marked "Control Room." Noticing the card reader to the side of the door, they shrugged before raising their foot and planting it firmly into the center of the door—causing it to go flying into the room beyond. Considering the fact that the interior armor in Jet Alone was designed to prevent intrusions such as this, and the door was supposed to divide into sections with half going into the floor and half into the ceiling when it opened normally, this was no laughable task.

Making their way to the access terminal, they extended a hand towards it. The fingers of Canti's right hand burst into several thousand small wires, which then invaded the terminal's own wiring. Once connected, Naota delegated the entire matter of accessing the system to Canti. Seconds later, they were both looking at a screen filled with lines of code. Because of his connection to the robot, Naota could interpret most of it. He keyed the switch on his plug suit that controlled the radio. "Shinji."

Outside, Shinji still strained against Jet Alone. What Naota and Canti couldn't tell was that its reactor was approaching critical faster than anyone had anticipated. When Naota's voice came over his radio, Shinji frowned. "Naota? Whatever you're doing in there hurry up. This thing's going to go soon!"

"No, it isn't."

"What!? What are you saying?" Shinji asked, glancing to his right where a window labeled "Sound Only" hung in midair—err, mid-LCL.

"Canti says it's going to stop in about… now, actually," Naota sent back, watching as the lights inside Jet Alone went green and the robot stopped moving. "I'm having him save a copy of the source code. Maybe Kensuke would like to look at it—he's a computer nut. Do you think we should tell Misato?"

Shinji thought for a moment. "I don't know. I guess so."

…

The AN-411 touched down on a stretch of deserted highway nearby, and using the last of his remaining power, Shinji set Unit-01 back in place underneath it. Later, when they were all on their way back to Tokyo-3, Misato turned to regard Naota—who had managed to get out of Canti without taking the rear exit, as it were. "Ok, just what the hell is going on here?"

Naota glanced at Shinji, and through an unspoken agreement it was decided that she would only get half of the story—for now. After an hour of describing the events in Mabase, Naota leaned back and sighed. "And that's pretty much everything you didn't know."

Blinking, Misato glanced at Shinji who nodded. "You mean it's all true?"

"Shinji met Haruko. Ask him yourself," Naota said, wondering just how many times he'd have to retell that story.

Shinji again nodded. "I did. She was nice, but weird. She's the one that brought me home after I ran away."

Misato didn't fail to notice that Shinji had called her apartment 'home.' She smiled. "So, how did you manage to shut down Jet Alone?"

Waving Canti over, Naota sat up. "We didn't, it was programmed to stop right before it redlined."

"WHAT?!"

"Canti, show her what we pulled out of Jet Alone," said Naota, motioning for Misato to watch Canti's face-screen.

She didn't understand much of it, but what she did understand scared her. "I see. Don't tell anyone else about this, ok guys? And can you get me a copy of this on disc?"

"Ok Misato."

"Sure."

Misato stood, making her way into the AN-411's cockpit. _"I'm going to get to the bottom of this."_

…

"Recovery of Unit-01 is completed. No danger of radioactive contamination. Except for Captain Katsuragi's operation, everything went according to the plan."

"Good work."

Ritsuko sighed almost imperceptibly. She didn't like putting Misato and the Pilots in danger when she could avoid it, but it was a risk they'd had to take. _"We couldn't have those idiots cut funding to NERV to explore the possibilities of that stupid Jet Alone. What a waste—"_ She was cut off mid-thought by an alarm going off across the complex. "That's not the Angel alert," she said, rushing from the Commander's office to the Operations deck.

"What's going on?!" she yelled. "And cut that alarm off."

"Ma'am," Maya glanced up from her terminal, bringing the data up on the big screen. "NERV-02, it's… gone." Onscreen, satellite footage showed the Second Branch of NERV disappearing in an explosion of some sort, but it was no explosion that the MAGI could identify.

Knowing the next few hours would be a giant pain in the ass for her and the rest of the Operations staff, Ritsuko groaned softly. "Inform Captain Katsuragi."

Twenty-six hours later, NERV-02 reappeared, along with Unit-04—but not the personnel assigned to the base. So far, they were unsure as to how or why the base and its Eva reappeared without even the pilot, and the MAGI were still thinking on it. One of the theories thrown up as to its disappearance in the first place proposed that the facility had been swallowed by a Sea of Dirac. Ritsuko couldn't argue with that, since she didn't have any better ideas as to what had happened. Commander Ikari ordered the AN-411 and a small group of techs to fly over to Nevada and bring back Unit-04, if it was salvageable. It would take several days to determine whether or not the Unit was usable, but if it was, Naota would be sync tested with it and named the Fourth Child if he succeeded. _"Are we sure we want him as a Pilot though?"_

"_Today's the day,"_ Naota thought idly, tuning the Rickenbacker's strings even though they didn't need it—they never needed it. _"Today, I either become an Eva pilot—a Child—or I leave Tokyo-3 and go straight back to Mabase and Ninamori will have to come with me, and Rei will have to go back to her old apartment…"_

It went without saying that Naota was more than a little worried about the outcome of this evening's sync tests. Behind and beside him Shinji, Touji, and Kensuke chatted quietly. It was the last class of the day and they were all anxious to get out without getting stuck with cleaning duty. Finally, after what seemed like hours of waiting, the last bell of the day rang.

Standing, Naota slung the blue Rickenbacker over his shoulder, picked up his bag and his bat, and left the class. He, Shinji, and Rei walked silently into NERV. Naota had once asked why she came along even though she didn't have sync tests with the two boys since her Eva was still being repaired—thus, Naota and Shinji learned of one of Rei's few hobbies: swimming.

The three of them split up at the door to the changing rooms, the boys going inside and Rei walking on to the pool as it had its own set of locker rooms. Setting the bass against his locker, Naota changed into his plug suit in silence. Behind him, Shinji thumbed the switch to compress his suit. "Naota," he said, turning to regard the shorter boy as he activated his own plug suit.

"Yeah?"

"Good luck."

"Thanks Shinji."

Together, the pair made their way into the Eva cage, where Units 01 and 04 stood side-by-side against the wall. "It doesn't look half bad," Naota said, climbing into the seat of his entry plug. He sat back as the crane lifted the seat and eased it into the plug before retracting. He glanced up in time to see the hatch slide shut, and then the plug cycled into the Eva and locked itself into place. "Here goes."

The plug filled with LCL and Naota exhaled once, before taking in a deep breath of the blood-smelling liquid. He'd gotten used to LCL after the first week or so of being subjected to the junk so he wouldn't panic the first time into the Eva. The smell though was something he didn't think he'd ever get used to, or the taste. The walls around him cycled through several colors and patterns before resolving themselves into an Eva-eye display of the inside of the cage. Misato's voice came over the radio. "Are you ready Naota?"

Taking a deep breath, Naota replied. "As ready as I'll ever be. Do your thing Miss Ritsuko."

"Begin first stage connections to Eva!"

Ignoring the techno-babble going on in the control room, Naota concentrated on becoming one with the Evangelion, as he'd been instructed. _"If you do not open your mind to her, your Eva will not move."_ Rei's voice. Had she told him that, some time before? It didn't matter. All that mattered was opening himself to the Eva.

Naota felt an odd prodding at the back of his mind, as if something were digging around in his N/O gate, but without putting their hand through his skull first. With a sharp intake of breath, he recognized the feeling. The mental image of a lopsided grin—reminiscent to that of the Cheshire Cat's—impressed itself upon him, and then a finger pressed to those same lips in an obvious shushing gesture. _"Atomsk!"_

Outside the Eva, in the control room, Maya scrutinized her readings again. For a moment, Naota's sync score had jumped from 39.01 to 99.89, which was impossible. It hadn't even lasted a full second though so she wrote it off as instrument failure, making a mental note to have her sempai check over the instruments later.

Inside the plug, Naota began to laugh—laugh hard. This was almost too good. Haruko had run off to search for Atomsk and now here he was, once again connected to Naota. After a minute, he settled down with a sigh. "I did it," he said quietly, but still loud enough for the Ops crew to hear. He could hear some of them congratulating him through his pickup from the bridge. He leaned back, mildly spent. He sat up seconds later though, at the mental impression of a tap on his shoulder. Atomsk wanted something—to speak, in private. _"Ok, I can do that,"_ he thought, _accidentally_ thumbing the switch that would cut off all audio and video feed from the plug to the control room. They'd still get his sync readings and probably his vitals, but anything else would be lost to them. "What is it?"

He blinked as his right arm moved of its own accord. It tapped a rapid sequence of commands into the keypad next to his butterfly controls. Suddenly, a video screen came up directly in front of him. His eyes moved to the top left corner: _Recording. Eva-04, 14:06._

His arm found the 'play' button and the recording moved forward. Onscreen was someone he hadn't seen in years… his brother, Tasuku. His brother spoke. "Are you sure I can't tell Naota any of this?"

A voice from somewhere off camera, probably in the control room of NERV-02 answered. "No, I'm sorry. It's classified."

"Damn."

The screen paused, jumping ahead to 15:04, the same day. Again his brother appeared, but this time he looked much less calm. "Can anyone hear me? Anyone at all? Unit-04, and from what I can tell all of NERV-02, have been swallowed by—something. I can't pick up anything on long range sensors, it's just white noise."

Again, the video paused, and then jumped to 15:32, the next day. Tasuku looked tired, strained. He said as much. "Fuck, I'm so tired—hungry too. It's funny, you'd figure that because of LCL's composition, you could live off of it, at least a little while, but it doesn't do anything for hunger pains. Look, uh… Whoever finds this, I'd like to ask a favor of you. You see, even though this Evangelion is running on a Super Solenoid engine, I'll probably starve before they ever recover it—_if_ they ever recover it. Listen, I'm begging you… get this to my brother, Naota Namdaba in Mabase, Japan. I haven't seen him in over five years and I think he resents the fact that I'm here in America. When NERV picked me up, I told everyone I was leaving to play baseball… I want to clear up all the lies I had to leave them with.

"Naota, little brother, if you're seeing this—it means I'm dead. For the past five years I've been training to be a Pilot. I'm sorry I had to lie to you all. Naota, tell dad and grandpa I've missed them, and apologize for me will you? I'd do it in person, but…" Tasuku grinned, shrugging. He was starting to ramble, but Naota didn't care. "Look, Naota, I'm sorry I just left everything there up to you. I bet you've had to live the past few years standing in my shadow or some crap like that; everyone expecting great things from the little brother of the big baseball star. Take care of Mamimi for me, would you? She needs someone to look after her—she doesn't have anyone, now that I'm not there.

"…Ok, enough of that. The strangest thing happened the other day. Some crazy girl named Haruko ambushed me yesterday—or was it the day before?—and told me you stole something of hers. She wouldn't say what, but it sounded important. …And then she hit me over the head with a guitar." Tasuku laughed. "I know it sounds weird, but I think she was looking for something. Oh well. Well, I think I've had enough of this. I'm going to try one more time to get out of here and if that doesn't work, I'm going to eject the plug. Whatever happens from there happens. See you Naota."

One more jump, this time to 15:54. The plug was dim, but not dark. Onscreen, Tasuku's form looked contorted, in pain. His pupils dilated, then shrunk, and then disappeared entirely to be replaced with white—but not the white of one's eyes. On his forehead, a mark burned itself into existence—it looked like a cheap, perverted form of Atomsk's emblem. The rest of his skin faded to black, along with his plug suit, and the cockpit grew darker until only the mark and his eyes were visible. Again, he spoke—amazingly calm. "Naota… They're coming Naota, and they want you. Your gate is the key, you can't let them have it. They're trying to use me to get to you, but to do so they have to make me like you—you'll understand. I'm sending back Unit-04 but I can't come with it. Find Haruko, find Atomsk, find the Eva… and stay away from the Sea of Dirac at all costs. Goodbye, Naota."

The screen died and Naota stared at the place where it had been. His hand moved again, keying in the command to flush the entry plug's logs, and then dropping back to the butterfly controls under his own power again. "Thank you, Atomsk," he said quietly, trying to digest just what the hell had happened. Shaking his head, he decided it'd be best if he didn't stay disconnected from Ops too long. He thumbed the switch for communications back to the 'ON' position.

"Naota! Where the hell have you been?" Misato yelled.

"Sorry Misato, I bumped the switch. Are we done?"

He heard someone grumbling from the control room. "Yeah, you're done," said Ritsuko.

…

"_Find Haruko, find Atomsk, find the Eva…"_

Naota scrubbed his fingers through his hair, trying to get out the LCL. What had his brother meant? How did he know about Atomsk, what was Haruko doing there, and what the hell had been happening to him? "This shit just gets weirder by the day," he mumbled, pouring half the bottle of shampoo into his short hair.

A couple of stalls away, Shinji glanced up from his own washing routine. "Something wrong?"

"Everything, Shinji—everything. I need to find Haruko, there's something I have to ask her. Did she say when she'd be back?"

Shinji shook his head. "No, I don't think so."

"Damn."

…

"Naota, tell me what's wrong."

Naota glared up from his bed. "Go 'way 'Mori."

Shutting his door behind herself, Ninamori walked the rest of the way into the room until she was standing almost directly over Naota's head. "No, not until you tell me what's going on. The last time I saw you like this was when Haruko left the first time."

"Has nothing to do with her," he mumbled, turning away.

Ninamori glared down at the side of his head, far from satisfied. Grabbing his shoulder, she pulled until her faced her again. "Then who?"

Naota rolled again, this time all the way over. "I don't want to talk about it Ninamori, go away."

Yanking hard, Ninamori managed to get him back around. This time though, she straddled his chest and pinned Naota to the bed. "You're not going anywhere until you tell me what's bugging you."

"Good, because I wasn't going anywhere to begin with."

"Fine, then you won't mind staying here the rest of the evening."

"Well what if I have to pee?" Naota asked, glaring up at the girl.

She lowered her head, looking directly into his eyes. "Well you should have thought about that beforehand, huh?"

"Whatever. I'm comfortable. I don't have to go yet."

"Good, neither do I."

"You'll have to get up eventually. Girls can't hold it as long as guys can."

Ninamori smirked. "Who said I'd be getting up? I suggest you tell me before I feel the urge to go though, because I might not be able to hold it… Like you said Naota, girls can't do that as well as boys."

"Eww," Naota wrinkled his nose, squirming under the girl. "You're gross. Get off me!"

Ninamori shook her head, scooting down a little further so as to find a more comfortable position. "Nope. And please, by all means, keep squirming like that… I kind of enjoy it."

Naota froze—eyes wide in shock as he realized exactly where the girl was sitting, exactly what he had been squirming against, and exactly what it looked like they were doing. "Uhh… Ninamori, get off."

"Gladly, just keep squirming and I will eventually."

His jaw dropped and he did not squirm. "What are you doing?"

"What's it feel like?" Ninamori asked, grinding herself lightly against the front of Naota's shorts.

Glaring, Naota turned his head to look away from her. "Like you're making a slut of yourself. Now get off me!"

Ninamori shrugged, lying down completely on the boy. "Maybe that's what it takes to get your attention Naota. Your head is so far up Haruko's ass it's a wonder you can hear me. And I told you, I'm not going to let you up until you tell me what's going on. I thought you passed the sync tests today."

Naota closed his eyes, choosing to ignore the comment about Haruko. _"It's not true—I don't have my head up her ass…"_ he thought, finally deciding that if it'd get Ninamori off of him (as opposed to off **on** him), he'd tell her. "Fine. You want to know what's bothering me Ninamori? This whole fucking setup is bothering me. I'm being used again, but at least this time I chose to let them use me."

"What do you mean?"

"My brother is dead. Tasuku is dead, 'Mori. Today—in the Eva—Atomsk showed me. My brother died inside that Eva and I don't even feel sad about it. But he said some stuff before he died, and it scared the crap out of me."

Ninamori raised an eyebrow. Naota was admitting he was afraid? Something was definitely going on, and it was a lot larger than anything she'd overheard so far. "What kinds of things did Tasuku say?"

"The kinds of things that you're not supposed hear. He talked about Haruko and Atomsk and my N/O gate… I never told him any of those things. I think something got him 'Mori. Actually, I know it did."

"'Got him?'"

Naota sighed, closing his eyes but opening them again when the image of his brother with the perverted symbol for Atomsk flashed across his mind's eye. "Remember all the things coming out of my head last year? I think something found a way to get _into_ my brother's…"

"That's…weird."

"Whatever. You don't have to believe it if you don't want to, but that's what was bothering me, so get off."

"I didn't say I didn't believe you Takkun, and I'm not getting off."

He couldn't understand it! What was with Ninamori tonight?! "Whatever," he said dully, closing his eyes again. Now that he'd gotten at least some of what was worrying him off of his chest, his mind decided to wander to other matters—such as what was literally on his chest at the moment. "What did you mean about getting my attention?"

The girl sighed. "Naota, you really are hopeless. You worry too much about things and usually don't see what's right in front of you until… until it beats you over the head with a guitar a couple of times."

"Huh?"

Shifting a bit, Ninamori leaned up so she could see his face. "_I'm_ right here in front of you."

Naota still wasn't following her, or he didn't know if he wanted to. "So?" he asked, being purposefully dense.

"Damn Naota, any other boy in your position would have taken complete advantage of the situation ages ago. Here I am basically throwing myself at you to get your attention, and you barely bat an eye. Your head really _is_ that far up Haruko's ass," she said, mumbling the last part.

"It is not," he growled, throwing her a glare. "You wouldn't understand."

"Try me."

"Alright, fine!" Naota exploded. "Do you want to know what happened—why I've ignored or brushed off everything?"

Ninamori nodded. "Tell me Takkun."

"Stop calling me that. I hate it. I hate that name."

"Then what do you want me to call you?"

"NAOTA! It's my name, not 'Takkun'! I am not my brother."

"I know you aren't, Naota," said Ninamori softly, trying to calm the boy. "We just call you that because it's special to us, you know?"

"For fuck sake, why?"

"Why do you carry around Haruko's guitar, even though she treated you like shit? It's not something we really question, we just do it. Now tell me…"

Shaking his head, Naota turned to regard the wall. Maybe if he didn't look at her it wouldn't hurt as much. He told her the one small detail of his story that he'd left out in every retelling—how he'd nearly killed Haruko then confessed that he had come to love the oddball that had lived with him for the better part of a year, and how he'd then given up Atomsk and made her choose between the two of them. His idea had been simple at the time—actually, he hadn't really been thinking so much as acting on instinct when he'd done it—make Haruko choose to either stay on Earth with Naota, or at least take him with her, or chase after Atomsk herself because he wasn't going to let her finish using him to get what she wanted. His improvised plan had backfired. She left—taking with her every part of Naota that mattered and leaving only a broken city, a broken heart, and a blue Rickenbacker guitar.

"Naota, she left," said Ninamori softly, pressing her forehead against Naota's temple, as the boy's head was still turned to the side. "I followed you. I came here to find you. That day, when the NERV agents came to recruit you, I wanted so much for you to just take me away with you… but you didn't. So I came after you. I did everything in my power to get here—to find you—and now I am. Forget about her, stop thinking so much, and just look at what's in front of you for five minutes."

Turning his head away from the wall to regard the girl, Naota gave her a tiny grin. "Look at what's in front of me and stop thinking, huh?"

Ninamori smiled. "Yes, my little delinquent—stop thinking so damn much."

"Why do you call me that?"

"Because, oddly enough, it's when you're at your best."

"Five minutes?"

"Five minutes," she agreed.

"I think I can."

Author's Notes: I noticed formatting problems with probably the last couple of chapters... I use "..." and "" to designate scene changes--periods for scene jumps and asterisks for the usual "screen goes black" transitions. It seems cuts out my asterisks for some ass reason, so I'll fix it in future chapters and probably get around to doing the others as well. What else? Oh, right... Ninamori is unbelievably out of character—it's more like she's pulling one from Haruko's book or something, but I don't care—or maybe Mamimi's. It'll all be explained in the series later. Wait 'till you see Asuka... Keep in mind that things have changed in my series from both original series. You know the old saying "the more things change, the more they stay the same"--keep that half in mind when reading this.


	7. 07

Naota groaned. _"Mornings suck,"_ he thought, turning to get the sun out of his eyes. Something warm and soft tightened its hold around his midsection and his eyes jerked open. _"Haru—no, Ninamori."_

Turning his head around, he regarded the mess of amethyst currently residing mostly on his pillow. _"Hey, she has kind of the same hair color as Misato,"_ he thought idly, watching Ninamori breathe. _"Shit! I have to get up so I can go with Shinji and Misato to meet the Second today. Damn, that means I'm going to have to wake 'Mori."_

"Hey, Ninamori, wake up," Naota called softly, turning around and shaking the girl slightly. "Come on, you have to get up. I have to leave soon."

The girl didn't move, but snorted loudly once and continued sleeping.

"Ok, I didn't want to have to do this," said Naota, pinching his thumb and forefinger over her nose. In response, her mouth opened and she gave a loud sigh, but still didn't move. "You're so faking it."

Ninamori didn't respond, only twitched in her sleep.

"_Should I?"_ Naota wondered, inching his own mouth closer to hers. _"Didn't she say she wanted my attention anyway?"_ he rationalized, grinning. He leaned forward the rest of the way and pressed his mouth to hers. The response was immediate.

Ninamori had indeed been faking it. She shifted her weight, pushing Naota until she rested on his lap once more, the two separated by the thin fabric of his boxer shorts and not much else—Ninamori also slept in the nude, it seemed. Naota hadn't complained much, once he got over the initial shock and near nosebleed. Her tongue flicked across the roof of his mouth and she sighed softly, grinning. Finally, she pulled away enough to speak. "There are better ways to wake a person, Naota."

"'Mori," he wined, trying to sit up. Ninamori would have none of it. "Come on, I have to leave early to meet up with Misato and Shinji, remember?"

Ninamori pouted. "But Naota, you got my hopes up." She huffed, apparently sulking and thoroughly disappointed. "Ok, I'll let you go, but what are you going to do for me when you get back?"

"Whatever you want, just let me up or Misato will kill me!"

"Whatever I want huh?" Ninamori smirked.

Naota didn't know if he liked that look or not, but he'd already said it and he knew she'd make him stick to that. Finally, he nodded. "Yeah, just let me up."

"Ok," she said, hopping off the boy and walking into the kitchen.

Naota followed and found Rei sitting at the table, eating toast and drinking juice. She looked at him curiously for a moment, possibly deciding whether or not she should ask why her other female roommate got to run around in the nude now. "I'll explain later?" Naota asked, grabbing a piece of Rei's toast. Rei nodded. That would be satisfactory.

Walking back into his room, Naota dressed quickly, deciding to forego a shower, seeing as he'd taken one the previous night—a very, _very_ cold shower. Remembering that he'd be taking a helicopter to the aircraft carrier, he thought it best to leave his hats at home. Swallowing the last of his borrowed toast, he left the room. He called out quick goodbyes to Ninamori and Rei before tuning to leave the apartment. As he neared the door however, a glint of blue in a shaft sunlight streaking in through one of the apartment's windows caught his eye. It was the Rickenbacker—Haruko's goggles wrapped around the handle.

"_I don't really need to bring it,"_ he thought, once more stepping towards the door. Something held him back though. Turning once more to regard the guitar, he shook his head. He just didn't feel right leaving it, so he picked it up and slung it over his shoulder. "Later guys," he called again, stepping out the door.

He met up with Shinji, Touji, Kensuke, and Misato as they were just leaving her apartment. Together, the five of them left the apartment complex and crammed into Misato's Alpine, Naota in front with the bass between his legs. Shinji and Naota buckled their safety belts at the same time. The ride to the airfield was exactly what they'd come to expect of Misato, though they managed to limit themselves to the occasional cringe rather than the outright screams of terror like the ones Kensuke and Touji seemed so fond of.

The helicopter ride was, thankfully, much less eventful and life-threatening. Kensuke babbled on and on about the helicopter they were riding in and the fleet of ships they'd be flying over. Shinji and Touji just listened, humoring their friend. Naota tuned them all out—at least until Touji tapped his arm and repeated the question he'd asked twice already.

"What was that? Sorry, wasn't paying attention," Naota grinned, shooting a look Kensuke's direction.

Touji resisted the urge to laugh. "I forgot to ask you the day I brought your guitar back. What's that thing on the back of it?"

Naota spun the guitar around so they could examine the back of it. He pointed to medium sized, raised circle and the handle protruding from it. "This?" he asked, getting a nod. "What's it look like?"

"Looks like a pull cord of some kind," said Kensuke, looking at it through his camera. Naota nodded.

"So what, it's gas powered?" Touji asked, confused. He'd never heard of a guitar that ran off gasoline, though his experience with musical instruments was very limited.

Shrugging, Naota grinned. "I have no idea. It doesn't put out any exhaust when you get it started, except for a bit of steam and hot air."

"So it's like a built-in amplifier?" Shinji asked. He'd never heard of this being done on any mass-production model before, so that meant that the Rickenbacker was definitely a custom model of some sort if that was the case.

"Something like that," Naota laughed. "I've only ever seen it played one way, so I wouldn't know."

"How so?" Misato asked, mildly interested. She was more of a car enthusiast, but the idea of an engine of some sort strapped to a guitar sounded relatively intriguing.

"Well, it was Haruko's—she mainly used it to bust open my skull… The only times I saw her use the thing after starting it, she usually wound up tearing through Medical Mechanica robots."

Kensuke's head jerked back from the window instantly. "Did you say Medical Mechanica?" he asked, getting a nod. "Aren't those the guys that had their main plant—somewhere in Japan, Mabase I think—destroyed in some freak accident?"

Naota, Shinji, and Misato traded looks. Finally, Naota spoke up. "It wasn't a freak accident. Medical Mechanica put themselves between Haruko and what she wanted, and came off the worst when push came to shove. At least, I think so. It was all pretty confusing there for a while, and I don't feel like telling it all again right now."

The two boys nodded and the pilot announced that they were coming in for a landing. "I wonder what the Second Child will be like," Shinji said quietly, visions of a girl with red hair and blue eyes dancing in front of his mind's eye.

…

The MIG helicopter landed and its passengers disembarked, thankful to be able to stretch their legs. Kensuke pointed his camera at everything in sight, taking in as much as he could—he was in Heaven. Naota popped his neck and shifted the Rickenbacker around to a more comfortable position, following Kensuke and thankful he hadn't worn a hat. Speaking of hats—Touji's had been blown off by the MIG's prop wash, and he was now chasing it across the flight deck. Shinji stretched his arms over his head, popping his back and grinning as Touji yelled for someone to stop his hat.

Touji's request was granted as his hat made contact with someone's shoe… and the leg attached to the previously mentioned shoe raised enough for the hat to pass under, and then ground down on it. Touji bent down and began yanking at his hat as the girl above him conversed with Misato. The hat wouldn't budge. Glaring up at the girl, he opened his mouth to tell her to get off of it, but stopped mid-word. A strong updraft caught her yellow sundress, lifting it well above her navel and exposing the fact that Asuka had chosen to go without undergarments that day—and that her hair was indeed naturally red.

Touji reeled back as the girl's palm made contact with his face. "What the hell was that for?" he yelled, rubbing his already reddening cheek.

"That's the viewing fee. Pretty nice huh?"

"It was a bit overpriced. Here, keep the change!" Touji growled, pulling down his track suit pants and boxers, flashing her. He was rewarded with another slap, and a cry of "pervert!"

Asuka turned her attention to Misato, ignoring the buffoon. "So, where's this Third Child I keep hearing about," she asked, casting a sidelong glance at Touji. "Ach, nein. Please tell me it isn't him."

"No Asuka, this is the Third Child—Shinji Ikari," said Misato, gesturing to Shinji beside her.

Asuka and Shinji's eyes locked, and Asuka opened her mouth to say something, but stopped.

"_Don't talk to me like that you damn rookie!"_

"_Show off…"_

"_I'm not giving Ikari a free show!"_

"_ASUKA! ASUKA NO!"_

"_Asuka, I need you."_

"_I'd rather _die_ than do it with you."_

_The Third Child straddles the Second, wrapping his thin fingers around her throat and squeezing, a mad gleam in his eyes. The Second Child reaches out with her un-bandaged hand, stroking his cheek. The Third releases his grip and his head drops to the Second's bosom where be begins to cry. The Second makes a face, mouthing something…_

"You," they both muttered simultaneously. Shaking off her confusion and setting it aside to reason out later, Asuka leant in close to Shinji, her nose almost brushing his. "So, you're the infamous Shinji Ikari." Her breath was sweet against Shinji's face, as if she'd just gotten through eating something—strawberries perhaps.

Shinji grinned—no, _smirked_. "And you're the great Second Child, Asuka Langley Sohryu," he replied, equally quiet.

Beside the two, Misato and Naota watched in fascination. The two acted almost as if they knew each other. Of course, Naota knew this was entirely possible. Deciding it might be best if their cover wasn't blown on the spot, Naota spoke. "What's that make me, chopped liver?" he asked, getting a small laugh from Misato and drawing Asuka's attention—albeit reluctantly—away from Shinji.

"Who are you then?"

"Naota Namdaba, Fourth Child."

"Never heard of you. In fact, I wasn't aware they'd selected the Fourth."

Naota shrugged, thinking back to something Misato had said earlier. "You've been stuck on a boat for the past week, right? I was only just chosen."

Asuka frowned slightly, looking to Misato for confirmation. Misato nodded. "Uhhuh. He's telling the truth Asuka, he was only recently chosen as a Pilot, but he's been training with us for two or so months."

"I see," she said, glancing between Naota and Touji. Something didn't seem to quite add up to her, but she couldn't put her finger on it. Naota did it for her.

"Hey, at least it isn't Touji," Naota laughed quietly, so as not to draw the boy's attention. He was currently chasing his hat again, but Naota didn't want to risk it.

…

Asuka dragged Shinji across the deck of the ship transporting Eva-02. Glancing into an open door with a stairwell leading down, she decided that this would have to do. She ducked into the entryway, dragging Shinji along with her. Leaving him near the top of the stairs, she rushed down and ducked into the space directly beneath Shinji. Stripping down quickly, she pulled her plug suit from her bag and began pulling it on.

Above her, Shinji sat leaning against the bulkhead. "Are you done yet Asuka?" he called. Not getting an answer, Shinji peeked over the railing, down into the niche created by the stairs.

Glancing up at the same time Shinji looked down, their eyes locked once more. They stood frozen like that for several seconds before Asuka halfheartedly yelled at him to stop peeking, a blush creeping across her cheeks. _"Gods, why did _that_ turn me on?"_ she wondered, hitting the compression switch on her wrist. "Let's go Asuka."

…

Naota watched along with Misato, Kaji, Kensuke, and Touji as the fleet's attempts to take down the Angel failed repeatedly. In front of them, the Admiral growled. "Why won't the damned thing sink?"

"Because it's got an AT field and only an Eva can beat it, you old codger," Naota mumbled, loud enough for the old man to hear.

"What did you say, boy?" he asked, turning around.

"You heard him. Only an Eva can beat it," Touji grinned.

"Get off my bridge."

"Make us."

The admiral nodded to one of his crew, who approached the small group of kids. Naota stepped out in front, unslinging the Rickenbacker—Touji was close behind, cracking his knuckles, and Kensuke was taping it all. Grinning, Naota turned the Rickenbacker over, grabbing the pull starter. "Come on, I _dare_ you," he said, pitching his voice intentionally low.

The subordinate took another step forward. One second later, a low whine issued from the bass as Naota pulled the cord. A second after that, a guitar-shaped hole stood out sharply against the bulkhead—daylight could be seen through it. Naota had swung the Rickenbacker one handed—it had grown seemingly lighter within the span of those two seconds—intentionally missing the crewman. The startled admiral said nothing more, allowing Misato to take over the operation from that point.

…

Shinji looked between the red female plug suit in his fingers and the girl clad in its twin. "Uh…"

"Don't stand there, get moving!"

"Here?" he asked, glancing around.

Asuka smirked. "Yes, here. Now hurry up."

Glancing down at the plug suit with a grimace, Shinji shook his head. _"Why do I get the feeling I'm going to hate myself for this in the morning?"_ he thought, turning around and stripping. Stepping quickly into the suit, Shinji suppressed a groan. He had some guess as to just how horrible he'd look in this thing.

Behind Shinji, Asuka was admiring the view—though she denied that to herself vehemently. _"It's only fair, he got to peek twice. He even saw my…"_ trailing off, she grinned, and then gaped. Shinji had almost lost his balance and fallen into the purple fluids below them, the result of a nearby shockwave. Closing her mouth quickly, Asuka turned around to hide her blush. _"Yeah, I'd say we're even now,"_ she thought, familiar warmth that she usually associated with Kaji spreading throughout her lower belly. _"Fuck—and I have to sit in that damned entry plug like this,"_ she thought, idly wondering what it'd feel like to touch someone through the suits... _"Fetish gear, heh."_ She would find out sooner than she thought.

…

"Teeth?!" Asuka squealed, looking down into the gullet of the Angel.

"It's an Angel," deadpanned Shinji in the tone of voice one usually reserved for small children and idiots.

The two yelled, pain shooting through their midsections as the Angel bit into Unit-02, and Shinji was thrown forward in the plug, landing in Asuka's lap.

"Man, it just goes from bad to worse."

Asuka frowned. "Shut up, you pessimist. And get off my lap, pervert!" she growled, pushing at Shinji's head and blushing. It was distracting as hell because she was _still_ aroused, and a part of Shinji's suit was rubbing her in just the right place.

"But we've got to free ourselves!"

Moments later, she was pounding on the Third Child's back. "Don't operate my Eva without my permission!" she grunted, each word coming in time to one of her fists pounding his back—also causing him to brush against her. Grabbing his head, she pushed harder. _"I should probably feel guilty about beating Shinji up like this, especially in the middle of a battle, but damn that feels good."_

"Shinji, do you understand?!" Misato called.

His voice strained because Asuka's fingers were currently wrapped thoroughly into his hair and she was throwing him around in her lap, Shinji answered. "I'll do the best I can!" he paused, noticing that Asuka's hips had just jerked and a part of her he was sure he'd seen earlier ground against him. _"So that's why she's…!"_ He wanted to laugh, but knew that if he didn't keep a straight face he'd be busted.

"Reverse the cable!"

The Eva jerked hard and Asuka ground against him again, both of them yelling—but not for the same reason. "Hey! Are you rubbing against me on purpose? Cut it out dork!"

Shinji shook his head. _"I'm not letting her blame this on me!"_ he thought, turning to regard the girl above him. "Are you complaining?!" he yelled, then quickly added, "We've got to open its mouth or we'll be fish food!" He didn't miss the small grin Asuka threw at him as he turned back around. "Can't have Misato finding out about this, huh?" he asked quietly.

Asuka went rigid. _"He knows!"_ she thought, grinning wider despite her embarrassment. Deciding that she didn't really care, she laughed softly, so that only he could hear. "No Shinji, that would be bad."

Hearing someone on the bridge shouting, Shinji pulled on the controls. "It's stuck!"

"There's no time left!" Asuka growled, then leaned down and put her hands on top of Shinji's. Together, they changed the control configuration and braced themselves, then began to push together with everything they had.

"_Open, open, open!"_

"_Open, open, open, open!"_

Neither noticed the small gauge showing their sync ratio shoot through the proverbial roof as Unit-02 gave an almighty heave, throwing open the beast's jaws. The two battleships rammed down into the Angel's throat, opening fire on its core and self-destructing as planned, shooting Eva-02 straight into the air. As one, Shinji and Asuka landed the Eva gracefully onto the _Over the Rainbow_'s flight deck—the Eva's battery dying seconds later.

The Children panted, their breaths coming and going in perfect synchronization. Asuka looked down at Shinji, who looked back up and both grinned. "We may have to do that again, Third Child," Asuka said slowly, her grin spreading.

Shinji laughed, sitting up. "Which part?"

"We'll figure that out later. Right now, let's get the hell out of here," she said, ejecting the plug. Shinji agreed wholeheartedly.

…

Eva-02 had been sitting on the flight deck for the past ten minutes. They were still over a half-hour out from port, and Naota had found the highest place he could outside to survey the damage around them. He let the Rickenbacker's strap flap in the breeze as he enjoyed the sea air. It seemed someone else had gotten the same idea.

Asuka climbed up onto the platform, spotting the Fourth Child instantly. For a moment, she paused, regarding him. Like this, he looked familiar… Recollection struck, as she remembered the cover of one of the magazines among her personal effects. "So," she called softly, walking up beside him. "It _is_ you."

"Huh?" Naota asked, turning his head to regard the redhead.

"You're the boy on the magazine."

"What magazine?"

Asuka was confused. "You mean you haven't seen it? It's on the cover of last month's issue of some magazine—Rolling Stone I think."

Naota nodded, remembering. "Mamimi took that, right before she left… before they both left, actually. So it made it into a magazine? I guess that means she got a lot of money from it. That's good."

"What, are you kidding me? She had a whole section to herself, and most of the pictures there were of you and some robot called—"

"Canti. He lives with us."

"…Yeah, Canti," she said quietly, seeing the boy in a bit of a new light now. "So, what were you doing up here?"

"I was thinking of tossing this. It causes too much trouble," said Naota, raising the Rickenbacker.

Asuka shook her head. "Don't be stupid. It looks expensive, and besides, it was a gift wasn't it?"

"How'd you know?"

"Because if it weren't you wouldn't be up here. So, what was she like?"

Naota laughed, slinging the bass back onto his shoulder. "Like a force of nature run rampant. Haruko was just… insanity, pure and simple."

Asuka nodded, and the pair simply stood in silence. Finally, Asuka spoke again. "It looks like we've made it to port."

"Yeah." Naota turned, giving the girl a grin. "Thanks."

"For what?"

"Keeping me from doing something stupid."

"Don't mention it, Fourth. In return, I may ask for a small favor shortly."

Naota nodded, accepting that she wouldn't tell him what it was, but it probably wouldn't be anything beyond his abilities, so he wasn't worried. "Hey," he said as they made their way back down onto the flight deck. "Where's Shinji?"

Asuka smirked. "Oh, I'm sure he's hiding around here somewhere."

Once the ship got its gangway down, the pair made their way down it, catching up to Misato and Ritsuko, who were sitting in a Jeep. "Where's Kaji?" Asuka asked, jumping into the vehicle. Naota however, was drawn to a noise coming from his left—the direction of the port's highway exit.

"_I know that sound,"_ he thought, trying to place it. His eyes widened. "That's a Vespa," he said, drawing the attention of the three women in the Jeep.

Shinji—who had miraculously found and borrowed Naota's spare plug suit, since he had thought ahead to bring one—caught up to the foursome, along with Kensuke and Touji, who trailed behind him. They all spotted it at once. A yellow Vespa barreled around a corner, several military issue vehicles tumbling along behind it and crashing out into the harbor. The Vespa picked up speed, heading straight for their small group. "Isn't that—" Shinji said slowly, glancing to Naota.

Naota nodded as the Vespa squealed to a stop, its rider pulling off her helmet and pulling her spare goggles up so they rested atop her flyaway pinkish-red hair. "Haruko," he both greeted and answered.

"Hi Takkun. Miss me?" she asked, standing and pulling Atomsk's guitar from its place between her legs, shouldering it.

"What are you doing here?" Naota asked.

Haruko turned, noticing Shinji. "Hello again, Mr. Ikari. Have a nice boat ride?"

Shinji shrugged. "Could've been better. There was an Angel."

The oddity nodded, grinning. She was flustering Naota, and she knew it. "Yeah, those always suck."

"What do you want Haruko?"

Shaking her head, she rolled her eyes. "Kids these days—absolutely no manners."

The entire group—save for Haruko—jumped when Naota finally exploded, pulling off the Rickenbacker and smashing it into the pavement to get her attention. The ones who hadn't seen what the boy's bass could do cringed. It had left a small crater in the asphalt. "What the hell do you want with me!?"

Haruko sighed, pouting. "Now is that any way to talk to the ones you love, Takkun?"

"I—I don't…"

She grinned—that manic, predatory grin—and patted the boy's head. "As I told Mr. Ikari not so long ago Takkun: your head is the only one that works. I want him and you're going to get him for me."

"And what if I say no?"

"You won't. Listen to that part of you deep down that says to trust me—tells you to do whatever it takes to make me happy. That's the part of you I need right now, besides your head that is." She leaned down, cupping her hand over his ear. "Give him to me and I'll take you with me. I won't abandon you this time Takkun."

He looked up at her, his breath coming in short gasps. She was right—deep down, he really did want to do as she asked, and the idea of going with her wherever that may be was appealing. "I—but… Ninamori."

Haruko frowned slightly—this could be a problem. She hadn't expected the other girl to be able to get to him here in Tokyo-3… hell, even if he'd have stayed with her in Mabase, Naota had been too emotionally wounded to give the time of day, let alone fall for the advances of a fourteen year old girl. She hated that part of herself that could do—and had done—that to the boy, but it couldn't be helped. She _needed_ Atomsk, soon—now preferably. He didn't understand just what was at stake if she didn't find the demigod. _"Maybe if I tell him the truth…"_ she thought, but discarded that idea. That just wouldn't be her style.

"Don't worry about her," she said quietly, stroking the boy's hair. "I'm _back_, Takkun."

As the Rickenbacker slipped from Naota's fingers and dropped to the pavement, Shinji watched on with a mild sense of growing horror. Of the people here, he alone knew the most about the two in front of them. He knew Ninamori and Naota had grown much closer as of late, and he also knew a little more than Naota had let on about his past, simply by interacting with the two. He was shocked and a little frightened when Naota threw his arms around the woman, weeping into her shirt. Her grin softened from that maniacal one he had seen only a few times to the one he'd seen even less—while she had driven him around Tokyo-3. _"She's really insane…"_

Shinji managed to quietly convince the others to leave the docks. "They'll catch up with us later," he said to Misato as the group made their way to a NERV transport bus. He looked back, catching Haruko's eye. She waved for them to take off, pointing to the Vespa—indicating she would drive Naota home. Shinji nodded, stepping into the bus and relaying the message to Misato and Ritsuko, who started the engine and took off. _"Just what the hell is going on?"_ Shinji wondered, glancing around. Almost everyone else seemed to be thinking the same thing.

…

Naota picked up the bass from where it lay on the street—not a scratch on it. Throwing it over his shoulder, he turned back to Haruko, who was leaning against her Vespa. "Things—it can't just go back to the way it was between us, can it?"

Haruko shrugged. "It could."

"It can't," he said, mustering the resolve that had been cut down to its knees only moments ago by this same girl.

"You've slept with her, haven't you Takkun? Was it fun?"

"Shut up."

"It was, wasn't it—doing it like one of these monkey-brained primitives?"

"I said shut up. She's not like that."

"Oh?"

"She's one of us."

"No, Naota. She isn't like me, and neither are you. It's why I can't stand humans, because they all think too slowly. You, you're an exception. You pretend, but you and I both know the truth. It's why you can use your N/O gate—why I need you. You're about three steps closer to being like me than the rest of the people on this dirtball of a planet. Maybe—and I stress that—she's almost as good as you, but she's nothing like me."

"I'm onto your games Haruko," Naota glared. "You keep saying things to confuse me, make me mad, keep me from thinking straight—whatever it takes to make me easier to convince to get you what you want."

She shrugged again. "Maybe."

"What happens if I take Atomsk for myself?"

"I'll eat you," Haruko grinned again, showing fangs this time—real fangs.

"Not if I eat you first."

Pausing, Haruko giggled… then burst into laughter. After catching enough breath to speak, the smiled innocently up at Naota. "Oh, you can _eat me_ any time you want Takkun—all you have to do is ask."

Naota blushed, knowing he'd walked straight into a trap. "You know what I meant," he mumbled.

"You know," said Haruko, standing and walking up behind the boy. She threw her arms over his shoulders, tilting her head down to graze the skin of his neck with those same fangs she'd shown him earlier. "Doing it like a monkey might be kind of fun…"

"Shut up," Naota growled, trying to shake her off. He'd almost let her get to him once today—had come within a breath of giving in and letting her have whatever she could take, so long as she promised not to leave him behind again. _"It won't happen again—I won't _let_ it. I'll take Atomsk for myself if I have to, but you're not using me again."_

…

Later that evening Naota arrived home exhausted—not just physically, but mentally and emotionally. Once he had recognized Haruko's attempts to throw him off balance for what they were, it was easier to shrug them off—but it didn't come without effort. He noticed the boxes outside the Katsuragi-Ikari residence, but didn't pay them too much attention. Behind him, Haruko whistled some inane tune. He didn't know why but he had offered to let her stay at his apartment—the same one he shared with two girls already. Maybe he was just a glutton for punishment.

Opening the door, he walked into the kitchen—waving a hello to Ninamori and going straight for the refrigerator. He didn't care what he found, as long as it was cold. Behind him, he heard the door close and Haruko slowly approach the kitchen. Ninamori stood and he could tell she was pissed. "You're back."

Haruko grinned. "Yup."

"Have you been toying with Naota's head again?"

Haruko grinned, knowing the girl had worded the question that way purposefully. "Maybe just a little."

Ninamori took a good, long look at Naota. He looked like he'd been through the wringer. "Right."

Shaking his head, Naota finished his drink. "'Mori, do you mind if Haruko uses your room?"

"…What?" she asked, turning to glare at him.

"You're not using it for much, right?"

"You mean I can…?"

Naota smiled—his first since Haruko had shown up. "Unless you'd rather sleep with Rei."

"There's someone else here?" Haruko asked, looking around. She saw his attempt for what it was and chose to ignore it for the time being.

"Canti and Rei Ayanami—she's one of the Eva pilots. She's the First Child."

"I see," Haruko grinned, rubbing her hands together.

Naota rolled his eyes. "I'm going to bed. You two behave yourselves—no blowing up the apartment, no guitars, no crashing the Vespa through the wall."

Haruko pouted. "Awe, you're no fun any more Takkun."

Shaking his head, Naota left the kitchen and stepped quickly into his room, closing the door behind him. He sat the Rickenbacker down in the corner, stripped down to his boxers, and climbed into bed. Maybe the apartment would still be there when he woke up.

Waiting until she thought Naota was asleep—or at least close enough to sleep not to notice what she said next—Ninamori cut to the chase. "He's mine Haruko. You had your chance and you threw it away."

Haruko frowned, standing Atomsk's guitar in a corner and sitting down at the table, where she picked up a piece of fruit from the bowl there. "You wouldn't understand."

"I don't want to. I just want _you_ to understand—don't toy with Naota's feelings again."

"What are you going to do little girl? Eat me?" asked the alien, taking a bite from the apple in her hand.

Ninamori smirked. "You wish."

"Fine, fine—you can have everything below the neck but his head is mine."

"No. Both his heads are mine."

"Awe, poop. Can't we share?" Haruko asked, grinning.

Ninamori paused, images of the two of them _sharing_ Naota flashing through her mind, made easier by the fact that she'd seen both in the nude on several occasions. Ninamori shrugged, sitting down as well. "I don't think he's the type. Besides, I thought he wasn't your type?"

"Naw, Takkun's my type—I just don't want him to grow that attached."

"You actually feel bad about what you're doing to him?" Ninamori asked, realization dawning.

"No."

"You're a terrible liar. You like him, don't you? You're just too wrapped up in your hunt for that god that you can't admit it."

"Shut up. I hate it when you humans think you've got a person figured out. Don't you get it yet? You can't even understand each other, what makes you think you can comprehend me?" Haruko asked, tossing the rest of the apple into the trash bin.

"Because I can see it with my own eyes. We're not that different, you know."

"Don't compare yourself to me. You might as well try comparing yourself to Atomsk."

"What will you do once you have him?"

Haruko paused, looking up from the table. "What?"

"When you get Atomsk's power, what do you plan to do?" Ninamori asked again.

"I—uh…"

"You don't know?"

"Shut up. I'm going to bed," Haruko growled, standing up and stomping from the room. Thankfully, she found Ninamori's room on the first try—it was the one closest to Naota's.

Ninamori grinned. "Score: one Ninamori, zip for the alien bitch." She stood and made her way quietly into Naota's room, locking the door behind herself. _"I should try to cheer him up tomorrow,"_ she thought, pulling off her clothes and getting into bed.

In her own room, Rei lay awake. She had heard the entire encounter since the front door opened. _"Perhaps,"_ she thought, rolling over onto her stomach. _"Perhaps she is more human than she lets on."_

Author's Notes: This's it folks—the beginning of the downward spiral into madness. Maybe. Things of note: Asuka moves into Misato's apartment about a week earlier than in Eva; yes, Ninamori is indeed _sleeping_ with Naota, but somehow they've managed not to do it like monkeys (at least in this second version—in the Alpha version, yeah); Naota's attempting to use Ninamori to hurt Haruko somehow? (or maybe he just doesn't give a rat's ass); and finally... Haruko is insane. If you thought that was odd, wait until Asuka starts remembering things and comparing them to her own (altered) past as well as the present. Also, now that I think about it, FLCL was so chock-full of sexual innuendo that I'm probably watering it down in comparison, and Eva wasn't exactly "clean" itself. Luckily me though, I'm one of those people that hated most of D&R and EoE, so Shinji won't be violating Asuka at that point in the series. I'm amazed at the reviews so far. I would hardly call this "kick ass". Also... I'd forgotten or overlooked that 'Eri' was Ninamori's nickname or something, right? (Or was it Mamimi's? Damn, need to dig out the novels since I don't have a copy of FLCL on dvd handy.) If so, yeah, she matured a lot faster I think... which would (partially) explain her current behavior. And as I said in one of my previous notes, I'm working on a mucho hush-hush other story or two, so yeah... Besides, I'm one of those people that see something shiny, go "ooh, shiny!" and pay it attention for five minutes before finding the next shiny thing. I haven't really finished any of my other works because I'm constantly plagued with new ideas. You'd think that wouldn't be a bad thing, but when you're in the middle of something and suddenly you have three-quarters of an entire story completely different from the one you're on now running through your head, it's kind of hard to stick to just one. So I'm going to alternate. It may take two to three weeks to update this past chapter eight or so, but maybe I can. ...If I don't get distracted when someone writes something new and shiny. And now, seeing as it's like 4:30 and this coke bottle sitting on my desk is looking mighty entertaining for some reason, maybe I should sleep...


	8. 08

Variable Reality – Chapter 08: Waking Up in the Morning / Beautiful Morning with You

"Living arrangements have already been made for you Asuka. Headquarters decided that since all of the pilots already lived together, it'd be best to put you here with me and Shinji," Misato had said the previous evening. Asuka and Shinji had both been too tired then to argue and her things had been brought to their apartment. The following morning however, was different.

Shinji awoke early, standing from his bed and straightening his boxer shorts as they had wandered into an odd position during the night. Yawning, he made his way to their bathroom. He was standing over the toilet and cheerfully emptying his bladder before he noticed his new roommate—who had been just as oblivious to his presence as he was to hers. "Morning Asuka," he greeted sleepily, finishing his business and flushing the commode.

"Morning Shinji," she responded, slipping out of her bra and panties and turning on the shower but not stepping in yet—many, many mornings of this routine had ingrained it into her psyche that it was a bad idea to step into the shower for at least a full minute after one turned on the faucet.

Shinji paused, regarding the girl beside him. Something seemed off. Shinji began to turn over the facts in his mind, trying to figure out exactly what was wrong with this situation. 1.) There was a girl—Asuka—in his bathroom. Check. 2.) Shinji himself was standing in the bathroom. Check. 3.) Asuka was nude, and the shower was running. Check. 4.) Shinji needed a shower. Check. Conclusion: Shinji and Asuka were going to share the shower. This last part didn't seem quite right.

"Asuka?"

"Mmm?"

"Why are you in my bathroom?"

Asuka stretched, yawning. "What does it look like? I'm going to shower."

Shinji nodded then froze, his brain finally coming fully online. _"Not good,"_ he thought, backing slowly away from the girl towards the door. His hand was on the knob when Asuka's hand made contact with his shoulder, clenching his shirt in it. _"I'm a dead man."_

"Shinji, how long have you been in here?" she asked calmly—far, **far** too calmly.

"Uh… not very long at all Asuka."

"And just how much did you see, _Third Child_?"

Shinji gulped. "Nothing Asuka, I swear." That wasn't entirely true—he'd gotten a fairly decent view of her rear and legs, but it wasn't like he'd stood there and stared at them for ten minutes... but she didn't need an excuse to make his demise any crueler than it was going to be.

Asuka yanked his night shirt hard, bringing him around to face her. Before he had a chance to look down, she stepped into his personal space, bringing her nose to within a hair of his. Their eyes locked…

"_Shinji…"_

"_Yeah?"_

"_I'm bored."_

"…"

"_Want to kiss me?"_

_The Third Child protested and the Second taunted him. Shinji rose to her challenge, jumping up from his chair. The two Children kissed, and Asuka's fingers clamped over his nose as his breath was tickling her cheek. He was good, she had to admit, but not as good as her _Kaji_ was renowned to be. The kiss ended, and Asuka ran to the bathroom, rinsing her mouth out to humiliate Shinji and ease her embarrassment over the fact that she had enjoyed it._

On an impulse, Asuka leaned in the scant half-inch required and pressed her lips to Shinji's. Half a second later, her lips parted slightly, her tongue darting out to trace Shinji's lips. _"I don't see what the whole mouthwash thing was about,"_ she thought, relaxing her hold on the boy's shirt somewhat.

Shinji was surprised, to say the least. The way he remembered it she'd been disgusted, and he'd felt used and thrown away for the next several days. Deciding it wasn't all that important at the moment, Shinji relaxed into the kiss—only to go rigid once more as her mouth opened and her tongue grazed his lips. His mouth opened on instinct and the kiss became that much more heated. The bathroom was filling with steam from the shower making it difficult to see though neither child noticed or cared much at that point.

After several moments of exploring each other's mouths the two broke apart, panting. "I don't see what the problem was," Asuka said softly, wondering why she had enjoyed that so much, and why she hadn't seriously thought about Ryoji Kaji since the odd scene between the Fourth and the Vespa Woman. At the thought of the rogue agent, a few more ghost memories surfaced: Kaji and Misato coming in from a night of drinking, Kaji with the smell of Misato's lavender perfume all over his shirt, a technician in a NERV uniform—Maya Ibuki?—telling someone else about an encounter between Kaji and Misato in an elevator…

"You saw that too?" Shinji asked quietly.

Asuka nodded. "Just what the hell is going on Thi—Shinji?"

"I'm not sure," he said, idly wondering why she hadn't moved—or better yet, hit him. Images of Asuka slapping him every time she didn't get her way bombarded him, and he flinched.

"What? It's not like I was going to hit—" Asuka paused, memory surfaced and realization dawned. _"Why was I such a _bitch_?"_

"Maybe we'd better get ready for school," Shinji suggested, turning from the girl and grabbing the doorknob again.

Asuka's hand found his shirt again, though she didn't yank on it this time. "Wait," she said quietly, glancing at the floor. Shinji didn't move. Finally, she spoke up again. "You owe me an explanation. I want to know everything Shinji."

"We don't know, though."

"'We?'" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Rei and I have been having the same problem ever since just before the fourth Angel," he said quietly, hoping Misato was still asleep. It would probably not be good if they were found like this by their guardian.

Asuka seemed to read his mind. "I don't give a fuck what Misato thinks, Shinji. I want to know what the hell is going on, and you and the First are going to tell me everything you know. Today after school we're all going to have a nice, long chat. Does the Fourth know anything?"

Shinji nodded. "Naota knows about as much as we do."

"Right then," said Asuka, stepping closer to Shinji. "And Shinji?"

"Yeah?" Shinji asked, growing more nervous by the second. The fact that she was nude and almost pressed up against him was both unnerving and arousing, and it was killing his ability to think.

"You still owe me for what happened in the Eva."

"I do?"

Asuka smirked. She knew that the way she was acting was completely out of character for her, but didn't care at the moment. Repressed feelings towards the boy in front of her from a time that hadn't happened yet were spilling over into her conscious mind and had all but erased her not-so-secret desire for the infamous, charismatic spy. Three things stood out in her mind: this was the perfect opportunity to claim the Third as her own and show up the First, she actually **wanted** this—especially the more she remembered things from her own past (and those damnable dreams) and hazy soon-to-be future; and she was really, _really_ aroused at the moment. "Yeah, you do. Shower. Now."

Shinji didn't complain, resist, or protest. The girl of his dreams—literally, no less—actually wanted him. It seemed impossible, but it was happening. She was actually being kind to him, as opposed to those rare glimpses of that kindness in his half-remembered memories of a time that hadn't happened yet. "I thought you hated me," he mumbled, shedding his shirt with her help.

Asuka bit her lip and shook her head. "I don't think I hated you Shinji. I hated the Third Child. Does that make sense?"

"Sort of," Shinji nodded. "So what are we going to do?"

"I don't know," Asuka answered quietly, wondering that herself. Finally, she struck upon a temporary solution. "We could start over."

"Start over?"

"Yeah, from the beginning. I won't be a bitch towards you—if you'll show me that side of yourself that I wanted to see."

Shinji smiled a bit, liking this plan already. "What side would that be?"

"This side," Asuka grinned, her lips brushing Shinji's. "The side of you that doesn't wuss out or back down or apologize every three seconds, the side that jumps into an Eva against all orders to the contrary and pulls all our butts out of the fire, the side that I—" she cut herself off, sighing, then shook her head. "Do that for me Shinji and you can see this side of me."

"Ok then," Shinji said, taking a half step back and holding out his hand. "Deal?"

"Deal. I'm Asuka—Asuka Langley Soryuu."

"Shinji Ikari. Asuka—"

Pressing her finger to his lips, Asuka grinned. "Shh. We only just met Shinji, remember? Maybe later. Until then, how about that shower?" she asked, smirk plastered on her face.

"Sure—but I thought we just met?" he asked, laughing.

"Shinji?"

"Yeah?

"Shut up and kiss me."

Shinji complied, one final thought on the matter crossing his mind before his blood flow once more diverted itself from his brain. _"If that's all she wants from me, why didn't she say so in the first place? Why did we have to go through all the fights and arguments and rivalry before whatever happened that put us on that beach? I suppose it doesn't matter now though. Things have changed…"_

…

In the apartment next door, Rei stood in their own shower attempting to thoroughly cleanse herself. Just as she was preparing to set to work on one of her shapely legs, she paused. Half-memories poured themselves in front of her mind's eye and she took in a shuddering breath.

_Rei in Unit-00, her body wracked with pain as it was invaded by an Angel. The Angel penetrating her mind and asking her something, before snapping its attention to Unit-01 emerging from a building in front of her. Rei instinctively reaching out to Shinji with her mind, the Angel mimicking her with its body. "Is this my wish—to become one with Ikari?"_

_Rei and Shinji _literally _one, their bodies joined at the waist and her arms flowing into his shoulders. Sitting there joined like that for what seemed like an eternity before Shinji took her hands and pulled them out of his chest, his decision made. It hurt._

Rei slumped to the floor of the shower, her breathing erratic. As with her first recollection of the Third Child, her body had reacted instinctually—but it only furthered her annoyance at her own confusion over his apparent rejection of her for the Second. Stretching out her senses, she found the reason for this sudden, unwanted surge of memory. The two Children in question were currently being somewhat naughty next door, and had come within a hand's-breadth of becoming one. Curling up her fist, she slammed it into the shower floor and growled quietly. "Fuck."

Blinking, her breathing began to return to normal, her fist unclenched and Rei stood. Emotions both her own and not her own ran through her mind faster than she could put a name to them. _"What is wrong with me?"_ she thought, breathing a sigh and finishing her bathing rituals before turning off the shower knobs and stepping out onto the bath mat. Pulling a towel from the nearby stack of clean ones, she ran it through her hair, then over the rest of her body. _"This is frustrating. Perhaps I should tell Shinji."_ Rei's thoughts were cut off as the bathroom door opened and in stepped a partially dressed woman Rei recognized from the photos in the Fourth Child's dossier.

Haruko yawned, scratching at an itch on her thigh through a pair of boxers—Naota's, that is. She blinked, realizing she wasn't alone in the apartment's bathroom, and then grinned as she realized who it must be. She gave the other Pilot a good thrice over, the grin widening. "Hi," she greeted the albino. Stepping closer, she paused and cocked her head slightly to the side, scrutinizing the girl further. Though no one else would probably notice it, Haruko could feel the aura of power surrounding the girl at the moment. It was obviously more active than it had been last night, because she hadn't even felt it then—which meant that either the girl wasn't aware of it and was irked about something, or she was aware of it and didn't care enough to keep it as concealed. "You're different," she stated bluntly.

Rei nodded, narrowing her eyes. _"She senses my A.T. field,"_ she thought, clamping down firmly on the power being produced by her S2 engine and bringing it back down to an undetectable level. _"I must not let my control slip again, lest I set off the MAGI's sensors."_

Shrugging, Haruko decided not to push the girl too much for the moment. "Well, I'd love to stand here and chat all day but I need to use the facilities, if you don't mind."

"Certainly," Rei said quietly, stepping around the alien and making her way back to her own room. Drying what she'd missed the first time quickly, Rei finished up and dressed then gathered her things and went into the kitchen for breakfast. Behind her, the door to Naota's bedroom opened and he and Ninamori made their way to the breakfast table, both already dressed. Giving a quiet greeting, Rei continued to eat what was in front of her.

Looking up from his bowl, Naota eyed the blue-haired girl questioningly. He'd been around her long enough to know something was amiss. "Something wrong?"

Haruko answered before Rei could respond. "She's just annoyed 'cause I walked in on her shower," she commented, sitting on the other side of Naota from Ninamori and eagerly taking the plate of breakfast offered to her by Canti.

"Learn to knock," Ninamori said, frowning at the nuisance.

Naota grinned and stifled a snicker. "You're one to talk," he quipped, earning him a punch in the arm. "Ow. Why are women always hitting me and bossing me around, anyway?"

"Because you make it easy for us Takkun."

"Shut up Haruko."

"Make me."

…

Misato opened the door, knowing who it would be. She grinned at the two boys on her doorstep. "Come on in, Shinji's almost ready."

Touji and Kensuke followed Misato into the apartment, only to freeze in terror when they found him. Both pointed at the redhead sitting across from him, wondering how the nightmare bitch had gotten there before them, and better yet—why she was there in the first place. "You!" they cried in unison, mouths agape.

Shinji looked up from his meal and followed their pointing fingers to Asuka, who was calmly ignoring them for the time being—content to simply bask in what remained of her afterglow and eat. At this rate though, Shinji knew it wouldn't last long. Nervously glancing between the three, Shinji wondered if he'd have time to find cover before they spoiled her mood and she went off…

Asuka looked up from her own plate and regarded the pair of stooges. "Oh, it's you," she grinned, turning back to regard Shinji. "Not even they can spoil this mood," she whispered before stuffing a piece of toast into her mouth.

To say Shinji was dumbfounded would have been an understatement. Shaking his head, he put away his plate and went back to his room to get his things, followed shortly by Asuka. The pair emerged together a few moments later. By this time, Kensuke and Touji had figured out how to talk again. "Shinji, what's she doing in your apartment?" asked Touji.

"She lives here. Misato said that headquarters thought it'd be best if all the Pilots lived closer together."

The four made their way back out of the apartment as the one next door opened and the other two Pilots stepped out, followed by Ninamori. Haruko leaned against the doorjamb, giving them a bored wave. Seeing this, Kensuke back peddled several paces until he could get them all into his camera. "Man, why do the two of you have such luck with women? Is it a Pilot thing?"

Shinji and Naota traded a look before shaking their heads. "Bad luck maybe," Naota mumbled, shifting the Rickenbacker into a better position as he drew alongside Shinji, who nodded his agreement. Living with Misato—even as just a neighbor—was a trying experience, and neither would think themselves very fortunate to have a roommate like her.

"_She's such a slob,"_ Shinji thought, but grinned nonetheless.

The group made its way out of the building and in the direction of school. Touji, Shinji, Naota, and Kensuke made up the front of the group as they carried on their own conversation. Rei walked a few paces behind the four boys, focused on Shinji alone. Behind Rei, Asuka and Ninamori had struck up a conversation after a quick introduction. Altogether, our little band of heroes looked like any other group of normal middle school students who didn't have a care in the world.

…

Later that day, Asuka made her way across the schoolyard with Ninamori and Hikari—the three had become fast friends—and smiled when she spotted Shinji. "Shinji!" she called, walking faster to catch up to him. "Where's the First? We never did get properly introduced. I feel like a bit of an ass since we walked to school with her and I ignored her," she said, whispering the last part to him.

Thinking for a second, Shinji pointed to a flight of stairs nearby. "I think she's down there reading."

"Thanks," she said, taking off for the stairs. Behind her, Shinji shrugged as Ninamori and Hikari looked at him questioningly, then the three of them followed her. Ahead, Asuka spotted Rei and grinned. Coming to stand before the girl, it took a moment for her to realize she either hadn't been noticed or was being ignored—both of which tended to get on her nerves. Stepping sideways, she purposefully threw her shadow over the book the First Child held in her lap. The book closed and Rei looked up. As their eyes met, Asuka opened her mouth to speak…

"_Hi, I'm Asuka, Asuka Langley Soryuu. Let's be good friends."_

"…_Why?"_

"_Because it would be convenient."_

"_I will if I am ordered to."_

"_Freak-a-zoid…"_

"_Saved by Rei-fucking-Ayanami. I can't believe it. Fucking Wondergirl. Fucking Invincible Shinji."_

"_If you do not open your mind to her, your Eva will not move."_

"_At least I'm not a doll like you."_

"_I am not a doll."_

"_Yes you are! You'd do anything your precious Commander ordered you to!"_

_Shinji, Asuka, and Rei in a rail car… Rei seated a few places behind and across from the other two Children, who were involved in an argument—well, that is to say the Third mumbled apologies while the Second berated him for his doubts and insecurities regarding herself and the First. Asuka slamming one heel into the seat inches from Shinji's chest and telling him… telling him...._

The two blinked, both looking around at the crowd that had gathered. Asuka frowned. "I'm sorry I ignored you this morning," she said quietly, wishing the crowd would go the fuck away. "I'm Asuka Langley Soryuu, the Second Child. Pleased to meet you."

"Rei Ayanami, First Child," Rei echoed, wondering how events would play out this time.

Deciding that her change in attitude towards Shinji could be extended to the First, Asuka attempted a smile. "Want to be friends?"

"Why?" Rei asked, a faint smile tugging at the corners of her own lips. _"Perhaps this Asuka will be different."_

"Because," Asuka started, and then paused. Her future relationship with the First Child hung on her next few words and she knew it. _"This Rei isn't a doll… I should at least try,"_ she thought. "Because we could both use someone to talk to?"

Rei thought it over for a moment, and then nodded. "Then I will be your friend, Pilot Soryuu."

"Asuka," said redhead corrected.

Standing, Rei placed her book in her backpack and smiled faintly—probably undetectably to anyone save two people. "Asuka, then. You may call me Rei," she said, walking off towards the main building just as the bell signaling the end of lunch rang.

"That was entertaining," Asuka mumbled, rejoining Shinji, Hikari and Ninamori before following their fellow Pilot into the school.

…

Shinji yawned in boredom, drumming his fingers against his desk and half-watching the scroll of conversation in the school chat room. In front of him, Naota was doing much the same—playing with the neck of the bass with one hand and typing out replies to the odd comment with the other. To his right, Touji dozed fitfully with his head pillowed on his arm while Kensuke had networked his personal laptop to that of the school and was doing who-knows-what. _"Probably something that will get him in trouble later, if he gets caught,"_ Shinji thought, grinning slightly.

He was snapped out of his semi-stupor seconds later however when Kensuke abruptly sat up and began quickly pulling out the cables connecting his laptop to that of the school's. "Oh shit," Kensuke mumbled, throwing commands into the school laptop and his own at a frantic pace. "Gotta purge the drives…"

Glancing around, Shinji made certain he wasn't being overtly watched before he leaned closer to Kensuke. "What's wrong?"

"You don't want to know. If anyone asks, I was asleep this period, ok?" Kensuke asked nervously, also looking around cautiously.

Shrugging, Shinji started to agree before movement caught his eye. A few seats away, Rei had begun to dig through her school bag. She had it to her ear before it was finished with the first ring. She glanced back to meet his eyes before another trio of phones rang simultaneously—namely his, Asuka's, and Naota's. If her nod hadn't confirmed his suspicions, the voice on the other end of the line did. "Shinji, Section Two has been dispatched to pick up you and the other Pilots," Misato told him rapidly, obviously in Central Dogma already.

"Right, we're on our way," he said, hanging up and picking up his things before standing. Around them, the class had gone silent and all eyes were focused on the Pilots. Shinji was jolted into movement however when the Angel alarm sounded and the class became a flurry of motion as the other students made for the exit, quickly making room for the Pilots as they passed though.

He caught up with Rei, Naota, and Asuka at the front of the school in time to catch Asuka's grin. "This is it Children—our first mission as a team," she said as she got into the back of the NERV sedan that had pulled up just as Shinji arrived.

"No, I will not be able to participate in this operation. Unit-00 is still undergoing repairs and they are not scheduled for completion until the middle of next week," Rei corrected her quietly, slipping in behind Asuka as Shinji and Naota crammed in behind her. Needless to say, it was a tight fit. Luckily for them though, the Section Two driver was nothing like Misato or Haruko. The trip to headquarters was amazingly dull in comparison to their previous experiences—well, Shinji and Naota's, since neither Rei nor Asuka had yet had the pleasure of riding with either of the insane dangers to society.

Naota glanced down at his black-and-blood on silver plug suit as he listened to Misato outline her plan of attack. It was simple really: the Angel would come ashore several hundred kilometers to their east along almost the same trajectory as that of the third and fourth Angels—with just a hundred-kilometer North/South variation between the three—and they were to intercept it on the beach front, before it made landfall. Shinji and Asuka would provide fire support while he—with the only Eva not dependant on an umbilical power supply—would attempt close combat. It made him uneasy, being the one they were relying on to complete this mission, but it couldn't much be helped. But with Atomsk hiding away somewhere in his Eva, there was no way he could lose—or so he hoped.

"One minute to drop zone, everyone ready?" Misato asked, her expression tense but not quite nervous in his display.

Under the display from Central, Shinji and Asuka gave their affirmatives, which he quickly echoed. _"Ready as I'll ever be,"_ he thought, grinning slightly. He felt a familiar presence seep into the back of his mind, offering a Cheshire grin as if to reassure him. To his right, the drop-countdown hit thirty seconds and a line of text began to flash.

**Deploy wing pack upon release?**

"Misato, why is this thing asking me about wings?" he asked quickly, as time seemed to be running out more quickly than he'd thought.

Someone—Ritsuko—pushed Misato away from the camera. "Your Eva is the partial prototype for the Mass Production models. Don't worry about it for now, since you haven't been trained to use them. Key in 'no,'" she instructed, stepping away.

Following her instructions quickly, Naota glanced at the clock. _"Five seconds—this is it!"_

"EVAS LAUNCH!" Misato yelled, then Naota didn't have time to worry about it as he was suddenly in freefall—which felt very different from all the other times he'd flown.

Inside Unit-01, Shinji almost laughed as Asuka whined about the unfairness of Naota's Unit-04 having wings, but didn't get the chance as his stomach suddenly gave a great lurch. _"I'll never get used to this,"_ he thought, watching the ground rush up to meet him yet again. He didn't fail to notice Asuka's whoop of elation though—at least someone seemed to be enjoying this. Seconds later, they all touched down—exactly on target, just as was planned. Turning to regard the image of Asuka, he grinned. "Adrenaline junkie," he muttered, loud enough for them all to pick up.

Asuka promptly stuck her tongue out. "What's the matter Third Child, afraid of heights?" she teased, watching her power countdown stop as the ground crew got her Eva's umbilical connected.

"No, I just don't like being dropped out of a plane on a regular basis."

"Oh quit whining, you big baby."

"I am not whining!"

"Yes you are!"

Glancing at the Pilots in his display, Naota grinned and shook his head. "Guys! This is no time for a lovers' spat! We've got a job to do," he said, picking up what looked to be a short sword of some sort from the box beside his Eva. _"Too bad they don't have an Eva-sized guitar,"_ he thought randomly.

Spluttering, Asuka glared at her display. "You're dead Fourth Child. Just you wait," she growled, though she was grinning when she said it. _"I am so not letting him or the Third take the glory for this operation either. This Angel is _mine!_"_ With that, she tossed down the rifle she'd been about to pick up and grabbed what looked to be a long spear of some sort. "I'm going in, cover me!" she yelled, dashing off before anyone could object.

"What?! Hold on, you damn rookie!" Shinji yelled, but opened fire anyway. He could hear Naota's hasty cry of 'shit!' before the Fourth dropped the progressive sword, grabbed Asuka's dropped rifle, and opened fire as well.

"What the hell is she thinking?" Naota called, making sure to keep his line of fire well clear of Unit-02.

"Hell if I know!"

Ahead of them, Asuka flew through the air with a yell before crashing down in front of the Angel, splitting its gray mass straight down the middle. "HAA!"

"Well, I'll be damned," two voices exclaimed softly. It seemed Naota had his answer.

"You see boys? A battle should be clean and elegant—without waste…"

"_A battle should be clean and elegant—without waste."_

_The sixth Angel, split straight down the middle, reformed itself into two smaller halves and began their approach on Unit-02…_

"ASUKA!" Shinji called, dropping his rifle and sprinting forward, the progressive knife already in his hands.

"FUCK!" Asuka yelled, ducking to the side and narrowly avoiding a swipe from one of the Angel's halves—later designated as 'target Beta' by NERV command.

Rushing in, Shinji attempted to drive the pair back, but to no avail. Seconds later, he was careening through the air—his umbilical severed and his Eva switching to its one minute of reserve power at full activity. "Shit!"

Asuka, for her part, recovered well and was on the offensive—at least until her own umbilical was cut and she was sent spiraling further into the bay. Standing, she saw Shinji doing the same several hundred yards away. Together, the two rushed the pair of Angels, attempting a coordinated attack.

Back on the beach, Naota growled in frustration. The situation had gone from 'manageable' to 'shit storm' in the blink of an eye, and there wasn't much he could do at the moment. He had picked up Shinji's dropped rifle, and along with Asuka's was attempting to dual-wield them and distract both parts of the Angel, but they were simply shrugging off the rounds. Every few seconds he'd have to cease firing to either avoid hitting one of the other Pilots or to reload. "I hope someone up there has a plan!"

Shinji's and Asuka's attempt at a joint attack was thoroughly and completely denied—the Angels simply functioned too well as a unit to allow the Pilots to form any cohesive attack pattern. Thirty seconds into the battle, Shinji was blown two kilometers out into the bay—his batteries dying before he hit the water. Six and a half seconds after that, Asuka was thrown two kilometers the other direction, her Eva embedding itself headfirst into a nearby hillside.

"I'm so fucked," Naota whined as his rifles clicked dry and the Angels began their approach on his Eva. Picking up his dropped short sword, he grinned. "I wish I had my Rickenbacker," he mumbled before giving a short battle cry and charging into the fray. After seeing two more experienced Pilots so easily and embarrassingly thrashed, he had little hopes of coming out on top of this one—but then again, who knew.

He quickly discovered one of the up-sides to his Eva as he ducked and rolled out from under a blow that should have taken his head off: though a full head shorter than the other Units, it was more maneuverable and faster from the look of it. A roundhouse kick to the closest half's side later though, he discovered its main downside: it clearly lacked as much physical strength. The Angel simply shrugged off the blow and retaliated with one of its own, sending Unit-04 crashing back into the bay, flat on its ass.

Standing, Naota frowned as he noticed that sometime during the skirmish he had managed to lose his weapon. "Shit. Now would be a good time for one of the others to stand up and help. Stupid fucking batteries."

"Unit-04, respond!" a voice called from somewhere inside the entry plug and it took a moment for Naota to realize that it was Misato and that she had been trying to get his attention for the past few seconds.

"Yeah, I'm here. What is it, Central?" he asked, rolling away from another pair of blows.

"The plan has changed. We need you to lure them back out into the bay. At that point, we're going to drop an N2 mine on them—you won't have time to get clear of the area, but the Evas should be able to withstand the blast. After that, we're going to collect the Units and retreat until we come up with a workable plan. Do you understand?" Misato asked, the tone in her voice and the look she was currently giving him told him implicitly that nothing other than 'yes' would be satisfactory.

"Yes ma'am," Naota replied, jumping back quickly from another set of strikes. Grinning, he sprinted in, getting a running start before pulling back a fist and throwing a hard uppercut to the nearest half's core. Had he been paying attention, he would have noticed the text flashing across his screen as it had earlier, this time with a different message.

**Angel Buster deployed.**

It seemed some developer somewhere along the line had a sense of humor—but a poor taste in names. Along both forearms, stretching from elbow to wrist, someone had decided to install yet another 'modification' to his Unit at some point—what could best be described as something akin to the third Angel's weapon of choice. A short, relatively thin, and altogether very sharp spike of sorts had been preprogrammed to extend the moment the Eva's fist made contact with anything—and it had attempted to embed itself into the Angel's core and then retracted again before Unit-04's fist had been pulled back in an attempt at another blow.

The blow never came however as Naota froze, watching as _both_ Angels began to writhe in agony. Looking down, he saw why: Beta's core had several cracks running along its surface. The Eva's hidden weapon hadn't managed to penetrate the core, but it did do quite a bit of damage. "Wait—why's the other one acting like I just kicked it in the balls?" he asked softly. Before anyone could answer though, the two halves had rejoined and the semi-damaged core merged slowly with the whole one. When they were finished, the main core was completely intact. "Oh, crap."

Half a second later, the core lit up and fired off an energy beam, catching Unit-04 square in the chest and sending it tumbling backwards. "Naota, go! Draw it back quickly!" Misato yelled again, catching his attention.

Naota stood, one hand clutching his chest and the other wiping at his lips to check for blood. "Yeah, that sounds good," he agreed, turning his Eva on its heel and high-tailing it for the middle of the bay. He was taken completely by surprise when the Angel jumped… and landed in **front** of his Eva. It didn't give him time to slow down though, as it reared back one of its gigantic arms and clocked Unit-04 hard against the front of its helmet, sending the Evangelion flying all the way back to shore.

Luckily for Naota though, that was far enough. His senses reeling, he somehow managed to sit up in time to see the N2 mine detonate on top of the Angel—but that proved to be his downfall as his brain decided it'd had enough and promptly shut down. When the retrieval crew got Unit-04 into a position that would allow the entry plug to be ejected, besides coughing up LCL its Pilot didn't so much as move when they removed him from his seat.

…

Two hours after the start of the operation, the Pilots—save for Naota, who was currently still unconscious somewhere in NERV's medical ward—had gathered with the rest of the Operations crew to review the battle. It was humiliating, to say the least, and Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki made sure the Pilots knew it as he—with the help of Misato and Maya—pointed out every flaw in the battle: from Asuka's botched attempt to show off all the way through to Naota getting taken by surprise at the end when his sensors had given him enough warning to avoid the Angel's last blow, considering his Eva's own capabilities.

"It was his fault! This idiot dropped his rifle and didn't give me adequate cover fire!" Asuka yelled, standing and pointing at Shinji, her cheeks aflame at having been singled out more than the other two Pilots.

Shinji jumped out of his seat, closing the distance between them. "The hell it is! If you weren't acting like a stupid rookie and had stuck to the plan, it wouldn't have happened!"

"Oh please, even if I had we'd still be here having this argument."

"If you weren't so full of yourself at the time, you'd have noticed them getting ready to smear your ass all over the beach when I did!"

"How _did_ you manage that, Shinji? From what I could see, there were no obvious signs that the Angel _hadn't_ been defeated when you went charging in," Misato commented softly, looking from one of her charges to the next. Both Shinji and Asuka froze, and then turned slowly to regard Misato. "And Asuka, you started to move away around the same time."

"I—uh… It didn't look dead," Shinji mumbled lamely, glancing back at Asuka. They were saved from further questions when the rear door to the room opened and the missing Pilot stumbled in.

"What'd I miss?" Naota asked, one hand attempting to find the drill that was currently trying to find its way into his N/O gate and the other holding up most of his weight on whatever would support it.

"Pilots Soryuu and Ikari were just being reprimanded for their lackluster performance and deviation from the Captain's battle plan," Rei said, speaking up for the first time since this reaming—for that's what it had predominantly been—began. "How are you feeling?"

Naota grinned, remembering the pre-battle commentary. "Like I've been hit with a Vespa," he said, pausing to consider it for a moment. "Yeah, I'd say that's about right. So are they still acting like newlyweds?" he asked, missing the look that flashed over the First Child's face at the comment—of course, everyone else missed it too, seeing as it was gone almost before it had fully materialized.

"_Fourth Child,_" Asuka ground out, one eye twitching and her hands unconsciously curled as if already around his throat as she took a menacing step in his direction.

Misato saved his life a second later however, cutting off the Second Child's approach with her next words. "Nice work by the way Naota. At least someone has some clue about following orders around here."

"Uh, thanks," he mumbled, but shut up about it when he caught the death glare Asuka sent his way. "Oh! There was something I wanted to ask."

"Sure, go ahead."

"Why wasn't I told my Unit could do that?"

"Do what?" Misato asked, confused.

Naota frowned, thinking back to the battle. "That last good shot I got in—it did way more damage than it should have. I mean, it shouldn't have even scratched the thing—I was just trying to get its attention at the time. From what I can tell, Unit-04 is weaker than the others."

Ritsuko, who had also been mostly silent up to this point, spoke up. "We didn't know it could."

"Huh?"

"Well, when we recovered Unit-04, all the data on its most recent modifications—and everything else for that matter—had been wiped from NERV-02's mainframe, most likely a result of being swallowed by the Sea of Dirac. All we really had to go on was its original production specs, which didn't even include the addition of wings."

Removing the hand that had been massaging his temples, he held it up in the universal 'hold-on' gesture. "Wait… you mean to tell me you put me into an Eva and sent me into battle with no real clue what the hell it was capable of?"

Ritsuko had the good grace to look embarrassed. "Well, uh…yes."

"Never mind. So… what's the new plan?"

"We have six days before it fully regenerates itself… and we don't have one yet," Misato said quietly, her mind already fast at work going over anything that might be of use. "Why don't the three of you get showered and go on home—Rei, you're free to go too. I won't be there until late tonight, if at all, so don't worry about cooking dinner for me Shinji," she added as the boy walked past.

Shinji smiled at his guardian. "Ok Misato. Don't work too hard."

As the pilots left, Ryoji Kaji stood and followed them from the debriefing room. _"I think I've got it,"_ he thought, making his way to the elevator, and from there his office where he began putting together what he suspected was the only workable strategy to take out the latest Angel. _"And was it just me, or is Asuka acting a bit off… maybe she's finally found someone to take her mind off of _me_ for a change. I do feel a bit sorry for the young Ikari though… heh."_

…

Elsewhere, across Tokyo-3, Kensuke was far from worried about the impending Angel attack. He was more concerned about the possibility that he'd actually been caught and was in the process of copying all of his vital data onto disc and emailing copies of it to trusted friends before he wiped it from his system, then he would mail the discs to a post office box in Tokyo-2 where one of those friends would wait for his signal before sending them back. "Maybe I'll get lucky and be forgotten in the confusion, what with the Angel attack and all…" he mumbled, not concerned in the least that he was talking to himself. Hearing the doorbell ring, he keyed in a sequence that would cause the computer to format its drives should he not come back and give it the password to stop within the next three minutes. "Coming!" he called, closing the door to his bedroom.

Walking into his living room, he wondered just who would show up at this time of the day. If it were Touji, he would have probably already come in since he had a copy of Kensuke's key—and vice verse—just in case of an emergency. _"Could be the class rep… wonder what she'd want though? Maybe she forgot to tell me I had cleaning duty this week or something."_

His hopes were dashed however when he opened the door to come face to face with a man in a NERV uniform—Makoto Hyuga by the name tag. A phrase he'd heard Touji use once—the last time the class rep had broken up their photo racket, actually—came to mind: _"I'm boned."_

"Mr. Aida?" Hyuga asked—his face carefully neutral. Seeing Kensuke nod, he continued. "I'd like to have a word with you, if you don't mind." His tone implied that whether the boy minded or not, they would be having words.

It was after dark and Misato still had yet to return to her shared apartment with Shinji and Asuka. Four Children, one welcome guest, one freeloader, a penguin, and a robot either sat or stood—all of them crammed into Misato's small kitchen where aforementioned robot was serving dinner.

"You don't conveniently remember anything useful about this Angel, do you?" Ninamori asked, glancing between Shinji, Asuka, and Rei. The three Pilots shook their heads in tandem.

"It's pretty much random," Shinji said before taking another mouthful of ramen.

"Yeah, from what I can tell, that only happens at the most inconvenient of times," Asuka added before digging back into her own bowl.

Swallowing a mouthful of salad, Rei shook her head. "Even if we did, we could not suggest anything to Captain Katsuragi—she already suspects something is amiss."

Leaning against the sink, Haruko eyed the five people sitting at the table suspiciously. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Ninamori groaned softly—she'd managed to completely forget that their resident alien was standing all of four feet away. That was understandable however, considering the fact that Haruko usually couldn't keep her mouth shut long enough to be sneaky. "It's none of your business. Why are you here anyway? I thought you were supposed to be chasing after something."

"Naw," Haruko grinned. "Atomsk isn't going anywhere for the time being. Isn't that right, Takkun?"

Naota sighed—he'd hoped to be mostly left out of this conversation since his head still felt like a certain alien had her hand up to the elbow in it. "I wouldn't know. I haven't seen it."

"You can't lie to me Takkun. It's written all over your face. Besides—I saw your fight."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Sure."

They were quiet after that, until Haruko finished her meal and announced she was going to bed. As soon as the door separating the apartments closed, Asuka leaned in closer to Ninamori. "What's her problem?"

"Haruko is a psychiatrist's wet dream," Ninamori grinned, and would have gladly listed a few dozen or so of those problems, had the front door not slid open.

Misato strolled into the kitchen, opened her beer refrigerator, and pulled out several cans of Yebitsu—anything to take her mind off the slip of paper currently residing in her right front pants pocket which read: "To my dearest honey… ' 3'". Seconds later—after the first can had been drained and was sent sailing towards the trash bin—she leaned back against the counter and regarded the gathered Children. "Well, we've got a plan now," she announced, but her tone of voice seemed to indicate that she didn't much care for it. "From what Ritsuko and her people were able to gather from the previous battle, the only viable plan is a synchronized attack on both cores."

"This was Miss Ritsuko's idea?" Shinji asked curiously.

Misato shook her head and scrunched her face up—as if her beer had suddenly gone very, very sour. "No. It was Kaji's idea," she groaned, slumping a bit.

Asuka nearly spit out her own drink. "Kaji's idea? I thought he'd have been sent back to Germany or something, since his job was just to deliver myself and Unit-02. He's still here?"

Misato grinned. "I wish he'd been sent back. No, that pain in my ass is still hanging around NERV somewhere. He says he got orders to stick around—I don't believe it."

"So how are we supposed to hit both cores at the same time? We could barely lay a hand on them last time, and you saw what happened when I got in that lucky shot," Naota asked.

"The two of you—" she pointed at Shinji and Asuka, "are going to eat, sleep, and breathe together for the next six days."

"WHAT?!" Asuka yelled, her cheeks almost matching her hair color. Naota flinched and slid his chair further from the redhead, hoping to avoid going deaf.

Misato's grin was bordering on cruel. "You heard me, Asuka. Unit-00 is still undergoing repairs and isn't in any condition to assist. And the way this operation will run, Unit-04 will only be a hindrance—sorry Naota, you'll be on standby unless the mission bombs. The most evenly matched of both Evas and Pilots are the two of you and your Units. I expect **this** operation to be carried out _to the letter_. Do you understand?" she asked, glaring at the two Children in question. Both nodded. "Good. Get some sleep, we start in the morning. And before you ask—yes Asuka, you'll be sleeping in Shinji's room. I'm going to check in every few hours during the night and I expect the two of you to be no more than two feet apart."

"But Misato, don't you need to sleep at some point?" Shinji asked innocently.

"That, my dear Shinji, is what coffee is for."

"Oh."

Asuka 'humph'ed, but didn't argue further. _"I wasn't quite ready to go that far Misato. But at least now you won't be able to complain if we get caught…"_ she thought, unconsciously partly echoing Shinji's own thoughts. Glancing at the boy in question, she saw that he too was attempting to hide a grin. "Don't look so excited, Third Child," she mouthed when Misato had her back turned.

"I am to remain on standby with Pilot Namdaba?" Rei asked, wanting her standing orders to be made perfectly clear. Seeing Misato nod, she stood. "I see. Goodnight."

Seeing Rei leave, Naota and Ninamori stood as well. "Night guys," Naota waved, following the albino.

Grinning at Asuka, Ninamori waved as well. "Remember to use protection," she taunted before dashing to the door and locking it behind her.

Misato looked from Shinji, to Asuka, to the door, and back to the Pilots. "Is there something going on here that I should know about?"

Things of Note: More reviews, yay! Let's straighten some things out. Remember three things: one—this is a half-way different timeline from the original series, things are a bit off by design; two—this is how they reacted in _my_ mind to my scenarios (ooh, I'm using Gendo's favorite word, scary); and three—it's a work of _fan_-fiction, meaning that sometimes we make mistakes that we don't see and beta readers (know anyone who wants to do that, I could use another set of eyes?) don't pick up but can probably be fixed in later revisions and repostings. On a side note, do any look like an SI character? I'm not out to take Foxboy's job of writing the self-insert fic. If I were going to do that, it would be blatantly obvious (to me anyway). When I checked my review alert email it took me a minute to tell that one of the reviews was for Tangent and not Variable—the self-insert review. This was originally meant to dissuade the belief that any of the characters in Variable were a Mary Sue or Gary Stu, but when I actually checked the review page it took me a minute to figure out that no, that one was for the other story and by then I'd already written half of this as a response to it so I just reworded or cut out some things... I didn't feel like letting it go to waste. Wow, I didn't think this one would draw attention to that one, and I'm impressed—I think. Rachel, from Tangent, wasn't meant to be an SI character (more like an original character stuck in the Eva universe than anything)—she was just an idea I played with one evening after re-watching Eva for the hundredth time and thinking "what could I do with Rei IV (the Rei from the series end version of Instrumentality, the balanced, normal Rei)". I don't remember where I got the whole "let's stick her in a Rei-body" idea, but looking up a few lines it probably came from reading something similar to 'I Was A Teenage Dummy Plug.' The only problem with that theory: I didn't read that fic until a couple of months ago, right before my connection died and I started on _this _one. Odd, huh? I have that problem sometimes when writing: "hmm, let's do this..." goes to take a break and read something elsewhere "...damn, why is it every time I come up with something I find it's already been done a dozen times?" It's hard to be original these days when everyone else is out trying to do so as well. Originality is a scarce commodity, though I hope that Variable at least has its fair share. If it starts sounding un-original, tell me **_please_**. ...Ok, I think I'm done now. Last chapter before I have to write more. Oh! And now, Titled Chapters! Don't expect updates every three days, but maybe I can get one in next week or the week after—maybe. Until then... afkdoing whatever it is I do.


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